The Fluctuating Journey a Conditioned Soul Sometimes Experiences in Māyā
The material world operates as a vast mechanism of bewildering changes where the living entity is tossed about by the powerful waves of material nature. It is clearly explained by Śrīla Prabhupāda that the bound spirit soul endlessly seeks happiness but instead meets with repeated frustration, brief illusions of joy, and profound miseries. This constant fluctuation between pleasure and pain characterizes the true and helpless condition of anyone who tries to find permanent shelter outside of spiritual consciousness.
Wandering Through the Planetary Systems
Subjected to the stringent laws of material nature, the soul embarks on a continuous journey throughout the universe. Driven by karma, the jīva is sometimes elevated to the heavenly planets and sometimes plunged into lower species of life. We learn from Śrīla Prabhupāda that this endless wandering, known as saṁsāra, offers no permanent resting place, as the soul acts much like a child blindly riding a merry-go-round.
- Conditioned souls are strictly under the laws of fruitive activities, and as such they sometimes go up to Brahmaloka and again come down to Patalaloka, as if they were unintelligent children on a merry-go-round.
- In this way the conditioned soul goes sometimes to the heavenly planets, sometimes to the earthly planets and sometimes to the lower planets and lower species. Thus he suffers continuously due to different types of bodies.
- Sometimes he (the conditioned soul) is elevated to the heavenly planets by such activities, and sometimes he again descends to earth. This is described by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu as brahmanda bhramite.
- Sometimes he (the conditioned soul) travels in the higher planetary systems and sometimes in the lower systems. Sometimes he travels in higher species of life and sometimes in lower species.
- As confirmed in Caitanya-caritamrta, kabhu svarge uthaya, kabhu narake dubaya: the conditioned soul sometimes descends into nescience and sometimes gets some relief by being relatively freed from it. This is the life of the conditioned soul.
The Mirage of Material Relief
In the desert of material existence, the soul frequently chases after illusions of happiness to counteract its perpetual suffering. These moments of apparent relief are fleeting, heavily mixed with distress, and ultimately fail to satisfy the deep spiritual hunger within. Through the teachings of Śrīla Prabhupāda, we understand that this pursuit is akin to chewing the chewed, where the soul desperately clings to temporary sense objects in a vain attempt to find peace.
- A conditioned soul tries to enjoy material happiness again and again. Thus he chews the chewed, but, sometimes, in the course of such enjoyment, he becomes relieved from material entanglement by association with a great soul.
- The conditioned soul, although actually spiritual, sometimes experiences pleasure, sometimes pain and sometimes a mixture of pain and pleasure. This is due to his being touched by matter.
- The soul, while sleeping, creates false or temporary worlds in his mind; he becomes busy in many illusory activities - sometimes becoming a king, sometimes being murdered or sometimes going to an unknown city - and all these are simply temporary affairs.
- The conditioned soul is sometimes illusioned and afraid. Sometimes he cries loudly out of fear. Sometimes he is happy maintaining his family, and sometimes he is overjoyed and sings melodiously.
- O best of the Bharatas, now please hear from Me about the three kinds of happiness which the conditioned soul enjoys, and by which he sometimes comes to the end of all distress.
Suffering and False Attachments
Identifying with the temporary physical body, the living entity establishes false relationships and endeavors endlessly for economic development and family maintenance. These attachments inevitably lead to lamentation when circumstances change or inexorable time takes everything away. It is thoroughly explained by Śrīla Prabhupāda that instead of finding security, the soul is constantly disturbed by enemies, natural forces, and its own uncontrolled senses.
- Sometimes the conditioned soul in household life, being attached to material wealth and possessions, is disturbed by gadflies and mosquitoes, and sometimes locusts, birds of prey and rats give him trouble.
- Being implicated in home life, the conditioned soul is burned by the fire of lamentation. Sometimes he condemns himself as being very unfortunate, and sometimes he claims that he suffers because he performed no pious activities in his previous life.
- Sometimes he (conditioned soul) gets the body of a demigod, and he thinks that body to be his identity. Similarly, when he gets the body of a dog he identifies his self with that body.
- Sometimes the conditioned soul is separated from his father by death or other circumstances. Leaving him aside he gradually becomes attached to others, such as his children.
- Sometimes the conditioned soul imagines that his father or grandfather has again come in the form of his son or grandson. In this way he feels the happiness one sometimes feels in a dream, and the conditioned soul sometimes takes pleasure.
Frustration and Bewilderment
When the grandiose plans for material enjoyment are inevitably crushed by the laws of nature, the living entity falls into deep frustration. In this state of bewilderment, the soul often misdirects its anger, blaming God or society instead of recognizing the faults of its own desires. By studying the profound insights of Śrīla Prabhupāda, we see how the individual becomes completely exhausted by the struggle for existence, yet remains trapped in the cycle of kāma and karma.
- A conditioned soul condemns the supreme creator when he meets reverses. Sometimes he accuses the Supreme Personality of Godhead of being crooked because some people are happy and some are not.
- In this material world the conditioned souls are baffled by their activities, and sometimes they are relieved after great difficulty. On the whole the conditioned soul is never happy. He simply struggles for existence.
- The path of fruitive activities leads to difficult mountains, and sometimes the conditioned soul wants to cross these mountains, but he is never successful, and consequently he becomes more and more aggrieved and disappointed.
- Sometimes, due to bodily hunger and thirst, the conditioned soul becomes so disturbed that he loses his patience and becomes angry with his own beloved sons, daughters and wife. Thus, being unkind to them, he suffers all the more.
- Sometimes his efforts (of the conditioned soul) to get help from friends are exactly like jumping into a dry river. By such actions, he does not derive any benefit. He only breaks his bones.
Seeking Shelter from the Struggle
Fatigued by continuous defeats, the conditioned soul sometimes genuinely desires an escape from the miseries of material life. Unfortunately, without proper guidance, the soul may take shelter of bogus saviors or misinterpret the goal of spiritual life as merging into the void. However, as Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies, when the soul is fortunate enough to encounter a pure devotee, this temporary disgust with the world can transform into the ultimate eternal shelter of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
- Sometimes when he (the conditioned soul) is fatigued, when he is tired of material activities, he wants liberation and hankers to become one with the Supreme Lord, but at other times he thinks that by working hard to gratify his senses he will be happy.
- Sometimes they (conditioned souls) become disgusted with the problems and seek out a process by which they can get out of this entanglement.
- Sometimes the conditioned soul tries to save himself from inexorable time and thus takes shelter of some bogus savior.
- Whoever fully surrenders unto Krsna can be saved from the cruel hands of material nature. The conditioned soul, however, sometimes wants to take shelter of a demigod, man-made god, pseudo incarnation or bogus svami or yogi.
- Akrura began to think, "Just as a blade of grass floating on the waves of a river may by chance come near the shore and gain shelter, a conditioned soul carried away by the waves of material existence may sometimes be saved by the grace of Krsna."
Conclusion
The unpredictable journey of the living entity through the material cosmos is defined by a continuous cycle of false hopes, temporary joys, and inevitable frustrations. Through his profound purports, Śrīla Prabhupāda repeatedly warns us that as long as one remains under the spell of material nature, one will simply bounce between the heavenly and hellish extremes of saṁsāra. True and lasting relief is found only when the soul decides to step off this chaotic path and reestablish its loving relationship with the Supreme Lord.
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Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category A Conditioned Soul Sometimes. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.