How Conditioned Souls Are Forced Into Suffering the Results of Past Activities
The intricacies of action and reaction tightly bind the conditioned living entity to a relentless cycle of birth and death. Explaining this universal mechanism of absolute justice, Śrīla Prabhupāda teaches that every material endeavor inevitably forces the soul to enjoy or suffer the respective consequences. True liberation only begins when one steps outside this restrictive paradigm by dedicating all their actions to the loving service of the Supreme Lord.
The Universal Law of Karma
Within the material world, no one is exempt from the strict laws of nature that govern cause and effect. Whether one is a tiny insect or the powerful King of heaven, every living being must endure the fruits of their previous labor. Highlighting this undeniable reality, Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies that despite our temporary social or national groupings, each individual soul carries their own distinct karmic burden and must personally enjoy or suffer the results of their deeds.
- In every field of life we enjoy the results of our work, or we suffer the results. This is called karma.
- In the Brahma-samhita it is said that beginning from the indra-gopa germ up to the great Indra, King of heaven, all living beings are subjected to the law of karma and are bound to suffer and enjoy the fruitive results of their own work.
- We see in your New York City. Everyone is busy with karma. Karma means you do something, there is some result and you enjoy or suffer. That is called karma.
- Although we appear combined together in a family, society or nation, each of us has an individual destiny. Everyone takes birth according to individual past work; therefore everyone must individually enjoy or suffer the result of his own karma.
Ignorance and the Cycle of Transmigration
The fundamental cause of material bondage is the pure soul's false identification with the physical body. Due to this deep-rooted illusion, the living entity completely forgets its eternal nature and becomes entangled in an endless chain of bodily vessels. As Śrīla Prabhupāda explains, this transmigration forces the bewildered soul to continuously wander up and down the cosmic hierarchy, blindly suffering the results generated by past activities while simultaneously creating new ones.
- A person generally does not know how one body is linked with another body. How is it possible that one suffers or enjoys the results of activities in this body in yet another body in the next life. This is a question the King wants Narada Muni to answer.
- The karmis transmigrate through different bodies in the cycle of birth and death, sometimes going upward and sometimes downward, thus suffering the results of their actions in the karma-cakra, the cycle of birth and death.
- Living in a conditional atmosphere, one suffers the results of the activities of the body by identifying himself (in ignorance) with the body. It is ignorance acquired from time immemorial that is the cause of bodily suffering and distress.
- He (the conditioned soul) is suffering in the present life the results of sinful activities from his past life, and he is meanwhile creating further sufferings for his future life.
The Inevitability of Sinful Reactions
Engaging in unregulated material enjoyment inevitably leads to abominable actions, especially those involving violence and unnecessary harm to others. Nature's justice is uncompromising, ensuring that every drop of blood spilled for temporary sense gratification is repaid with equal suffering in future lives. Warning human society of these dire consequences, Śrīla Prabhupāda emphasizes that unless one carefully avoids sinful activities and seeks purification, they will be forced to undergo tremendous distress in hellish conditions.
- All these activities are sinful, and because we are engaged in such sinful activities constantly we are constantly reaping the result of our sinful work, which is suffering in one way or another.
- If one kills poor animals to satisfy the temporary whims of this body, one does not know that he will suffer in his next birth, for such a sinful miscreant must go to hell and suffer the results of his actions.
- Whether one be Kartaviryarjuna, Lord Parasurama, Jamadagni or whoever one may be, one must act very cautiously and sagaciously; otherwise one must suffer the results of sinful activities. This is the lesson we receive from Vedic literature.
- Before your death, if you accept some atonement, then next life you'll not suffer. Otherwise you'll carry with you the resultant action of your sinful activities and you'll have to suffer next life.
Freedom from Material Consequences
While the vast majority of living entities are trapped in the grinding wheel of material reactions, those who surrender to the Supreme Personality of Godhead are placed under special divine protection. When a person aligns their consciousness with the Lord, their actions no longer produce any mundane consequences. Guaranteeing this path of liberation, Śrīla Prabhupāda reveals that a sincere devotee who patiently tolerates past reactions while remaining fixed in loving service easily transcends the cycle of suffering and attains the spiritual world.
- Everyone is suffering from the results of sinful activities, but Krsna says that if one surrenders unto Him, He will protect one from sinful reactions.
- A person in Krsna consciousness acting in knowledge of his relationship with Krsna is always liberated. Therefore he does not have to enjoy or suffer the results of his acts after death.
- Any person who is constantly awaiting Your causeless mercy to be bestowed upon him, and who goes on suffering the resultant actions of his past misdeeds, offering You respectful obeisances from the core of his heart, is surely eligible to become liberated.
- Even though he (devotee of the Lord) falls down, he is never to be considered the same as a fallen karmi. A karmi suffers the result of his own fruitive reactions, whereas a devotee is reformed by chastisement directed by the Lord Himself.
Conclusion
The inescapable reality of the material atmosphere is that every action, driven by the false ego, forces the living entity to continuously suffer the results of their own deeds. As Śrīla Prabhupāda masterfully illustrates, this binding chain of karma and transmigration can only be broken by adopting the path of transcendental knowledge and devotional service. By aligning one's activities entirely for the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa, the soul is protected from all sinful reactions and successfully re-enters the eternal, anxiety-free realm of the Supreme Lord.
Dive Deeper into Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vani
Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category Suffering the Results. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.