The Uselessness Of Material Existence

The Uselessness Of Material Existence
Srila Vrindavan Das Thakura
ye śunaye prabhura vivāha-puṇya-kathā
tāhāra saṁsāra-bandha nā haya sarvathā
Whoever hears these auspicious topics of the Lord’s marriage is never entangled in worldly life.
In this material world people become joyful by hearing about the marriage of a boy and a girl. Encouraged by such topics, the conditioned souls become eager to face the miseries of material bondage. But the topics related with the marriage of Sriman Mahaprabhu, who is the controller of māyā, are not like this. This pastime of the Lord is meant to demonstrate the uselessness of material existence. A living entity who is attached to material enjoyment considers the marriage of a mundane boy and girl to be the ideal example of sense gratification, and if he considers the spiritual pastimes of the Supreme Lord’s marriage as similar to the conditioned soul’s sense gratificatory activities, which are apparently sweet but ultimately poison, he will certainly be entangled in the bondage of material existence. But the Supreme Lord is the only object of all enjoyment, and the servants, maidservants, and wonderful ingredients of service, which are all under His control, cannot produce such in-auspiciousness. Wherever the happiness of the Lord is present, the sense gratification of the living entities cannot remain. In this regard one should discuss auspicious nectarean statements such as the following verses from Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (11.2.42): bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra caiṣa trika eka-kālaḥ—“Devotion, direct experi¬ence of the Supreme Lord, and detachment from other things—these three occur simultaneously,” and from the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.187):
īhā yasya harer dāsye karmaṇā manasā girā
nikhilāsv apy avasthāsu jīvan-muktaḥ sa ucyate
“A person acting in the service of Krishna with his body, mind, intelligence, and words is a lib¬erated person even within the material world, although he may engage in many apparently mate¬rial activities.” The Supreme Lord Visnu is the tran¬scendental controller of māyā, so to consider Him material or like an ordinary living entity is a great offense. When a transcendental service attitude to¬wards the Supreme Lord Visnu is awakened, then liberated devotees inclined towards serving the Lord are no longer entangled in material bondage. In other words, if a living entity is eager to please the Supreme Lord, he becomes freed from the bondage of material existence, which is separate from the Lord, and never personally endeavors for sense gratification or material enjoyment.
– Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata – Srila Vrndavana dasa Thakura Ādi-khaṇḍa 10.119, including the purport of Sri Srimad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura. Published by Pundarika Vidhyanidhi dasa