The Eternal Struggle Between the Material World and God
We all have a mind that is responsible for all the actions that we perform. Firstly, it is the mind that constantly creates desires. The question is, “Why do we have desires?” The answer is that all souls desire true happiness, that is, the happiness that is God. To fulfill this natural desire for bliss, the mind constantly creates desires every moment. There are five types of desires: the desire to see, the desire to hear, the desire to smell, the desire to taste, and the desire to touch or feel. The mind desires to enjoy subjects related to these five senses, and it can desire objects only in two areas: God or the material world. Hence, this mind can either desire God or material objects. There is no third area where the mind can seek happiness.
If we believe that happiness can be attained from this material world, we will aim to fulfill our desires in this realm. If we believe that happiness can be achieved from God, we will automatically desire to acquire Him. This is a natural tendency and is not learned from anyone. Not just human beings, even animals and birds have this innate understanding. The mind works by the decision of the intellect, and has to desire what the intellect thinks is the source of true happiness.
The material world is readily visible, but God is not easily seen. It is the nature of the mind to desire material pleasure, as it is made of the same elements that constitute the material world. It is very natural and easy to get attracted to things that we can see, and we can see this material world and not God. Although the Vedas, Shastras, and Puranas praise God, and the message is repeated by the Saints, our mind is not able to focus in that direction. The mind is easily attached to material objects of pleasure and seeks happiness in them.
Our experience of this world has taught us that there is no real happiness in material objects. We may derive a lot of pleasure initially, but with time, that so-called happiness disappears. We might have embraced our dear ones – our mother, father, son, daughter, husband, or wife thousands of times and cherished our favorite Indian sweet thousands of times, but we remain tense and disturbed. We have not received inner peace or happiness from any of them. Our ultimate goal is to find happiness, but our experience seems to be the opposite.
We think that the attainment of a material object or a person will make us happy. But when we get it, we no longer derive happiness from it. We become disturbed because that object no longer provides the same level of happiness as before. We have all experienced this across countless lifetimes. It is the intellect that must decide that the material world has been created for the body, and not to provide happiness for the soul.
This disease of desire affects even celestial beings. The king of the celestial abodes, Indra, for example, covets the seat of Brahma. So what about humans? We wish to earn millions of dollars or become the Prime Minister of India. This is the limit of our desire. What else can we desire? Even Indra desires. Indra can get whatever he wants by just wishing for it. He has Varun, Kuber, and Yamaraj as his servants, and yet he has desires. Why? Because he is still deprived of the love of God. He has not attained the happiness related to the soul.
Pleasure related to the senses is present in this material world as well as in the celestial abodes. However, it is a myth of this material world that we will receive immense happiness. After the initial pleasure, it begins decreasing with time and finally turns into sadness. For example, upon the arrival of a newlywed bride, we dance, sing, and spend lots of money. Extra care is taken for her. But after a few days or weeks of her association, we tend to be disappointed with her. We think, “Maybe that other bride is good; the other person's wife is better."
Everybody wants his or her happiness. In the same way that you expect to derive happiness from your wife, she expects to derive happiness from you. In such a situation, it is obvious that there will be a conflict since both parties are trying to fool each other to get happiness, but neither of them has it to begin with. Both say that they wish for the happiness of the other, but in reality, no one wants the happiness of someone else.
Until we become God-realized, no one can wish or work for the happiness of another.
Once a soul reaches the stage of Saints like Tulsidas, Surdas, Mirabai, or Kabir, then that soul can think of helping others, since that soul has nothing left to achieve. These people can now work for the happiness of others or not do anything because their motive is fulfilled. The desire to reach God has been fulfilled and eternal happiness has also been attained. Material desires were destroyed in the beginning itself. A God-realized soul has no more desires. Now, they will desire to give happiness to others.
What can God or God-realized Saints do? There is nothing that they wish to achieve for themselves. They can only work for the benefit of others. The desire for God will arise once we let go of the desire for this material world. We only have one mind. If we had two minds, one could desire God and the other could desire the material world. But since we have only one mind, we can desire only one of these things. Due to this confusion, the intellect is not able to decide. When we get disappointed with this material world, the desire for God arises. But the very moment we start receiving happiness from the material world, we start desiring it and forget all about God.
Our condition is like that of a dog. If you hit a dog with a stick, it will run away from you. It stares at you from a distance with anger. If you now offer it something to eat, it will start wagging its tail and will come back to you. If you hit it again, the dog will again run away and if you show it some food, it will again come back to you. In the same way, when we are disappointed with our mother, father, brother, wife, husband, or son, we start thinking that the Saints are right and that God is our everything. But when we start receiving happiness from them again, we get attached to the material world. Like a puppet, we dance to the tune of other people. Our mother, son, wife, or husband make us dance to their tunes. We get detached from the material world many times but soon become attached again. When we realize the truth that this material world is for the maintenance of our body, that the soul is divine and a part of God, and that God is the subject of the soul, we will earnestly desire Him.
Until the age of eighteen years, a girl stays in her father's house. She considers her father's property as her own - the car, the house, and all the luxuries inside it. If anything is lost, she will feel as bad about it as her father. When she brings her friends over, she talks to them as if everything is hers. Now, when she gets engaged and marries a person she did not know previously and goes to his house, she immediately claims that his house is hers and his car is also hers! How is this possible? We become attached to those objects in which we perceive our happiness lies. We do not have to try hard or practice this, it happens automatically.
Suppose a theft occurs at her husband's house. As his bride, she will be just as tense about as he is because she considers everything of his to be hers. Hence, the moment our intellect decides that this material world is not ours and only God is and that we are souls and the soul's only subject is God, the desire for this material world will end, and the desire to know God will arise. The desire for God is not created in the same way as we desire for material objects. This happens because our knowledge is limited, and we think that we can find happiness in this material world. We say that our father, our mother, and our wife are at fault, but we still believe that we can find happiness in this material world. When will we realize and accept that everyone is looking for happiness, and so how can they give us happiness when they do not have it to give?
What can a beggar do when he feels generous? The best that he can do is give him an empty bag or the meager earnings he has received. We must understand this fact and leave the bondage of this material world. We cannot do this just by talking about it, reading about it, or being told by the Saints to do so.
If you do something for your father he will love you, but when his purpose is not met, he will get angry with you. When you accept all that your wife wants, she will love you. But if you do not, she will become sad. This is the selfishness of this material world, and we need to remind ourselves about this truth constantly. Friendship or enemies, attachment or detachment must be made firm by its repetition. If you think about this again and again and firmly resolve that there is no happiness in this material world, then you will not stray from it.
During a cremation, it is customary for Hindus to chant rama nama satya hai, "The only truth is God's name." If we truly realized this and believed it, attachment to this material world would fade away. If we do not desire the material world, we do not have to create the desire for God, because it is created automatically since we cannot desire anything else. We have to create the desire for God since we cannot find happiness in this material world. This material world is for the body and God is for our soul. Everything has a different subject. For example, our eyes are required to see, our ears to listen, and so on. We cannot listen through our eyes or see through our ears.
Similarly, if you desire the happiness of the soul from this material world, how is this possible? This is the reason why it is said, "Remove your mind from this material world and focus it on God.” If your mind thinks about pure things, it will become pure. To wash dirty clothes, you need pure or clean water. You cannot wash your dirty clothes with dirty water and expect them to be cleaned. They will only become even dirtier.
Similarly, the material world is not pure as it is comprised of the three qualities of maya - sattva, rajas, and tamas. If the mind becomes attached to any of one of these three, it will degrade even further in purity. However, if the mind is attached to pure things, it will become purer. This is the reason why we must redirect our minds from the material world and concentrate on God. If you are unable to attach your mind to God, then you must practice doing so. Redirect it to God every time you catch yourself thinking of something else. Slowly but surely, your mind will become attached to God.
A person smokes cigarettes, drinks alcohol, and lies to people. After doing this regularly, he becomes addicted to it and experiences great difficulty in trying to quit. Similarly, the mind thinks that we can't quit our attachment to material things. But God is the ocean of bliss. Focus your mind on Him again and again and you will experience a lot of happiness, and soon you will not be able to leave Him.
An English translation of a discourse delivered in Hindi by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj
The Eternal Struggle Between the Material World and God
We all have a mind that is responsible for all the actions that we perform. Firstly, it is the mind that constantly creates desires. The question is, “Why do we have desires?” The answer is that all souls desire true happiness, that is, the happiness that is God. To fulfill this natural desire for bliss, the mind constantly creates desires every moment. There are five types of desires: the desire to see, the desire to hear, the desire to smell, the desire to taste, and the desire to touch or feel. The mind desires to enjoy subjects related to these five senses, and it can desire objects only in two areas: God or the material world. Hence, this mind can either desire God or material objects. There is no third area where the mind can seek happiness.
If we believe that happiness can be attained from this material world, we will aim to fulfill our desires in this realm. If we believe that happiness can be achieved from God, we will automatically desire to acquire Him. This is a natural tendency and is not learned from anyone. Not just human beings, even animals and birds have this innate understanding. The mind works by the decision of the intellect, and has to desire what the intellect thinks is the source of true happiness.
The material world is readily visible, but God is not easily seen. It is the nature of the mind to desire material pleasure, as it is made of the same elements that constitute the material world. It is very natural and easy to get attracted to things that we can see, and we can see this material world and not God. Although the Vedas, Shastras, and Puranas praise God, and the message is repeated by the Saints, our mind is not able to focus in that direction. The mind is easily attached to material objects of pleasure and seeks happiness in them.
Our experience of this world has taught us that there is no real happiness in material objects. We may derive a lot of pleasure initially, but with time, that so-called happiness disappears. We might have embraced our dear ones – our mother, father, son, daughter, husband, or wife thousands of times and cherished our favorite Indian sweet thousands of times, but we remain tense and disturbed. We have not received inner peace or happiness from any of them. Our ultimate goal is to find happiness, but our experience seems to be the opposite.
We think that the attainment of a material object or a person will make us happy. But when we get it, we no longer derive happiness from it. We become disturbed because that object no longer provides the same level of happiness as before. We have all experienced this across countless lifetimes. It is the intellect that must decide that the material world has been created for the body, and not to provide happiness for the soul.
This disease of desire affects even celestial beings. The king of the celestial abodes, Indra, for example, covets the seat of Brahma. So what about humans? We wish to earn millions of dollars or become the Prime Minister of India. This is the limit of our desire. What else can we desire? Even Indra desires. Indra can get whatever he wants by just wishing for it. He has Varun, Kuber, and Yamaraj as his servants, and yet he has desires. Why? Because he is still deprived of the love of God. He has not attained the happiness related to the soul.
Pleasure related to the senses is present in this material world as well as in the celestial abodes. However, it is a myth of this material world that we will receive immense happiness. After the initial pleasure, it begins decreasing with time and finally turns into sadness. For example, upon the arrival of a newlywed bride, we dance, sing, and spend lots of money. Extra care is taken for her. But after a few days or weeks of her association, we tend to be disappointed with her. We think, “Maybe that other bride is good; the other person's wife is better."
Everybody wants his or her happiness. In the same way that you expect to derive happiness from your wife, she expects to derive happiness from you. In such a situation, it is obvious that there will be a conflict since both parties are trying to fool each other to get happiness, but neither of them has it to begin with. Both say that they wish for the happiness of the other, but in reality, no one wants the happiness of someone else.
Until we become God-realized, no one can wish or work for the happiness of another.
Once a soul reaches the stage of Saints like Tulsidas, Surdas, Mirabai, or Kabir, then that soul can think of helping others, since that soul has nothing left to achieve. These people can now work for the happiness of others or not do anything because their motive is fulfilled. The desire to reach God has been fulfilled and eternal happiness has also been attained. Material desires were destroyed in the beginning itself. A God-realized soul has no more desires. Now, they will desire to give happiness to others.
What can God or God-realized Saints do? There is nothing that they wish to achieve for themselves. They can only work for the benefit of others. The desire for God will arise once we let go of the desire for this material world. We only have one mind. If we had two minds, one could desire God and the other could desire the material world. But since we have only one mind, we can desire only one of these things. Due to this confusion, the intellect is not able to decide. When we get disappointed with this material world, the desire for God arises. But the very moment we start receiving happiness from the material world, we start desiring it and forget all about God.
Our condition is like that of a dog. If you hit a dog with a stick, it will run away from you. It stares at you from a distance with anger. If you now offer it something to eat, it will start wagging its tail and will come back to you. If you hit it again, the dog will again run away and if you show it some food, it will again come back to you. In the same way, when we are disappointed with our mother, father, brother, wife, husband, or son, we start thinking that the Saints are right and that God is our everything. But when we start receiving happiness from them again, we get attached to the material world. Like a puppet, we dance to the tune of other people. Our mother, son, wife, or husband make us dance to their tunes. We get detached from the material world many times but soon become attached again. When we realize the truth that this material world is for the maintenance of our body, that the soul is divine and a part of God, and that God is the subject of the soul, we will earnestly desire Him.
Until the age of eighteen years, a girl stays in her father's house. She considers her father's property as her own - the car, the house, and all the luxuries inside it. If anything is lost, she will feel as bad about it as her father. When she brings her friends over, she talks to them as if everything is hers. Now, when she gets engaged and marries a person she did not know previously and goes to his house, she immediately claims that his house is hers and his car is also hers! How is this possible? We become attached to those objects in which we perceive our happiness lies. We do not have to try hard or practice this, it happens automatically.
Suppose a theft occurs at her husband's house. As his bride, she will be just as tense about as he is because she considers everything of his to be hers. Hence, the moment our intellect decides that this material world is not ours and only God is and that we are souls and the soul's only subject is God, the desire for this material world will end, and the desire to know God will arise. The desire for God is not created in the same way as we desire for material objects. This happens because our knowledge is limited, and we think that we can find happiness in this material world. We say that our father, our mother, and our wife are at fault, but we still believe that we can find happiness in this material world. When will we realize and accept that everyone is looking for happiness, and so how can they give us happiness when they do not have it to give?
What can a beggar do when he feels generous? The best that he can do is give him an empty bag or the meager earnings he has received. We must understand this fact and leave the bondage of this material world. We cannot do this just by talking about it, reading about it, or being told by the Saints to do so.
If you do something for your father he will love you, but when his purpose is not met, he will get angry with you. When you accept all that your wife wants, she will love you. But if you do not, she will become sad. This is the selfishness of this material world, and we need to remind ourselves about this truth constantly. Friendship or enemies, attachment or detachment must be made firm by its repetition. If you think about this again and again and firmly resolve that there is no happiness in this material world, then you will not stray from it.
During a cremation, it is customary for Hindus to chant rama nama satya hai, "The only truth is God's name." If we truly realized this and believed it, attachment to this material world would fade away. If we do not desire the material world, we do not have to create the desire for God, because it is created automatically since we cannot desire anything else. We have to create the desire for God since we cannot find happiness in this material world. This material world is for the body and God is for our soul. Everything has a different subject. For example, our eyes are required to see, our ears to listen, and so on. We cannot listen through our eyes or see through our ears.
Similarly, if you desire the happiness of the soul from this material world, how is this possible? This is the reason why it is said, "Remove your mind from this material world and focus it on God.” If your mind thinks about pure things, it will become pure. To wash dirty clothes, you need pure or clean water. You cannot wash your dirty clothes with dirty water and expect them to be cleaned. They will only become even dirtier.
Similarly, the material world is not pure as it is comprised of the three qualities of maya - sattva, rajas, and tamas. If the mind becomes attached to any of one of these three, it will degrade even further in purity. However, if the mind is attached to pure things, it will become purer. This is the reason why we must redirect our minds from the material world and concentrate on God. If you are unable to attach your mind to God, then you must practice doing so. Redirect it to God every time you catch yourself thinking of something else. Slowly but surely, your mind will become attached to God.
A person smokes cigarettes, drinks alcohol, and lies to people. After doing this regularly, he becomes addicted to it and experiences great difficulty in trying to quit. Similarly, the mind thinks that we can't quit our attachment to material things. But God is the ocean of bliss. Focus your mind on Him again and again and you will experience a lot of happiness, and soon you will not be able to leave Him.
An English translation of a discourse delivered in Hindi by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj
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