This material world is a dangerous place. In fact, if it had a Yelp review you would be quite surprised. Every ancient saint of every tradition had the same thing to say. Whether it was the Buddha, Jesus, or Śrī Krishna, all stated that this material world is a place of crises. What is the crisis? Everything is temporary. Which means it is virtually non-existent and we are searching for truth and existence in the wrong place.
A person with an unsatisfied heart may do any damn thing for happiness/pleasure. They may perform bad or good actions for that end game. In return, that creates karma, or future arrangement of good and bad reactions in life. Living millions of such lives separate from seeking the Supreme every one of us has a stockpile of good and bad reactions in our bank account. Thus no one person can be assured safety.
With the best parents, one cannot assure the safety of their dependants, with the best boat, one cannot be assured that one may not drown, and with the best doctors and medicine, one cannot be assured freedom from death. Thus the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam states,
samāśritā ye pada-pallava-plavaṁ
mahat-padaṁ puṇya-yaśo murāreḥ
bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padaṁ paraṁ padaṁ
padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām
For those who have accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Murāri, the enemy of the Mura demon, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf’s hoof-print. Their goal is paraṁ padam, Vaikuṇṭha, the place where there are no material miseries, not the place where there is danger at every step. - Bhāg 10.14.58
However after hearing all this gloom and doom a person should not misunderstand. The Bhāgavatam is encouraging us to taste and experience that ever-practical connection with God right now as a powerful medicine to the material ailment. Thus those who taste this relationship are known by the ever ripening sweetness of their character. Just as the mature chanter of the Hare Krishna Mantra experiences it as sweeter and sweeter with every step.
So let us shift our street with the mridanga beat and move to that place where every step is a dance and every word is a song.
With the best parents, one cannot assure the safety of their dependants, with the best boat, one cannot be assured that one may not drown, and with the best doctors and medicine, one cannot be assured freedom from death. Thus the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam states,
samāśritā ye pada-pallava-plavaṁ
mahat-padaṁ puṇya-yaśo murāreḥ
bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padaṁ paraṁ padaṁ
padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām
For those who have accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Murāri, the enemy of the Mura demon, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf’s hoof-print. Their goal is paraṁ padam, Vaikuṇṭha, the place where there are no material miseries, not the place where there is danger at every step. - Bhāg 10.14.58
However after hearing all this gloom and doom a person should not misunderstand. The Bhāgavatam is encouraging us to taste and experience that ever-practical connection with God right now as a powerful medicine to the material ailment. Thus those who taste this relationship are known by the ever ripening sweetness of their character. Just as the mature chanter of the Hare Krishna Mantra experiences it as sweeter and sweeter with every step.
So let us shift our street with the mridanga beat and move to that place where every step is a dance and every word is a song.
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