We get only temporary happiness and that too after lot of struggle – does God not want us to be happy?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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the question is that whenever we get any pleasure, the pleasure is very temporal and then again we have to struggle again we get some pleasure but again it’s temporal so has God created it this way that we have to struggle and we never get pleasure God has not created it that way, it is we who have chosen that it is that there is material pleasure and there is spiritual pleasure material pleasure by its very nature is temporal because the attractiveness of material things doesn’t last for long the most attractive thing that we may get it is attractive for some time afterwards it’s just no attraction it’s like say if you purchase a new dress and then we come and nobody notices the new dress what is the point of buying a new dress so the pleasure is actually not in the thing itself the pleasure is in getting in others getting us to others appreciating us for having that thing and others how long are they going to appreciate us when I was a student my life’s dream was to be a topper I was always among the toppers I joined first, second, third but I was never number one so in my engineering I gave GRE and I used to like English very much so at that time I got 2350 at that time so I was the first in the whole history of my college I was the first in the whole state of Maharashtra among the top 5 in the whole country I thought this is all my dreams come true I was so happy but after sometime just a couple of days I realized that there is no happiness in looking at the mark sheet if someone has to come and congratulate me then there is some pleasure and then one or two acquaintances they just didn’t congratulate me I started thinking don’t you know what I have achieved are you an idiot why are you not congratulating me so when this happened a third time it’s almost like I felt as if I was looking at myself from above I have not really become happy I have become more dependent on others for my happiness although I have achieved this, this thing has not made me happy it has made me more dependent on others for my happiness and then it struck me that I might give another exam I might get marks again again I will be happy but I will be dependent on others for my happiness many years later I heard the problem with the rat race is that even if you win the rat race, you still remain a rat nothing really changes life just goes on the same way so that was the time when I started exploring that was the time when a friend who had become a devotee gave me Bhagavad Gita and then I understood what spiritual happiness so our desire for pleasure is natural but we are looking for pleasure in the wrong direction material things can at best offer a temporary pleasure so God has not created a system where we struggle and suffer rather the small drops of pleasure that are there at the material level they remind us that pleasure is there but it is not here if there had been no drops of pleasure at all then we would have got satisfied living the way we are but there are drops and then we get the drop and then this is not enough must be something more and then if we are wise if we are not very insightful then what happens? we keep doing the same thing again and again hoping that next time it will be better but somehow some intelligence awakens if we meet some spiritually minded people the same thing is not going to give me anything then we start exploring something higher so the Atma when it connects with the Paramatma through Bhakti that brings happiness sukhena brahma samsparsham atyantam sukham shlute brahma samsparsham by contact with Brahma, with Krishna what happens by that? atyantam sukham so this contact can be established through many different ways one is of course we come to a temple we practice Bhakti activity directly but along with that even in our worldly life if we do our work in a mood of service to Krishna in a mood we take care of a family in a mood of service to Krishna then through it all we can connect with Krishna so doing our job well, achieving success in that job will give us some pleasure but if we do that in a mood of service to Krishna then the pleasure of the job itself will be temporary but the connection with Krishna which is established through service that will be endured and that will give us lasting happiness so the temporary pleasures of this world are meant to raise within us a question where is real happiness and then we will explore the spiritual side of life so Prabhupada when he was in America at that time many people were hippies hippies they had everything in material life and they were not happy with it so Prabhupada was giving a lecture and he said that you hippies you are not very much appreciated in your country they say you are frustrated people but he says I appreciate you human life is meant to be frustrated he said Athato Brahma Jigyansa Athato Brahma Jigyansa Athato Brahma Jigyansa means now enquire spiritual how Prabhupada is so perfect when will you enquire spiritual when you understand that material enquiry is not taking me anywhere so when you become frustrated materially you may enquire spiritual the point is that the disappointment that we get in our material life then that inspires us to explore spiritual whereas material material pleasure is always a let down it is a disappointment spiritual happiness is actually more than what we expect as we keep moving closer and closer towards Krishna it is that we experience so much happiness it is oceanic now he says that Prabhupada Swami says that when I chant the holy names I feel as if I should have thousands of mouths to chant the holy name and I should have millions of ears to hear the sound of the holy name there are many people who are glutton they like to eat but has any glutton till now thought I want a hundred mouths to eat all this many people may say that thousands of mouths millions of ears basically through this saints are giving us a glimpse of what is the kind of happiness that is available there is a great poet who said Lord Ram’s eyes are as beautiful as Lord Ram’s eyes there is no comparison only this one but then it just gives an indication so there is our longing for happiness is meant to be fulfilled we just need to direct it properly towards Krishna then definitely it will be fulfilled