SIMPLE LIVING & HIGH THINKING or SIMPLY LIVING & HARDLY THINKING

I came to stay in our ISKCON Vasco ashram for a while. I bought only one pair of dhoti - kurta other than what I was wearing thinking that I will keep going back and forth to our Panjim ashram, where I usually stay. But, it so happened that I didn't get any chance of going to Panjim for the last 20 days and somehow, I didn't find the need for it too. I guess, I have learnt to happily manage with just two pairs of dhoti - kurta. It was quite a revelation for me - that it is possible to be happy with less. Life is actually so simple but we unnecessarily complicate it with "unnecessary wants" which we think are "necessary needs". Simple instances like this, makes us realize the meaning of the above statement. Many years ago, I had heard a saying which goes like this - reduce your wants and feel like a King or increase your wants and feel like a beggar. Isn't it so true and meaningful?

Life is meant to be lived in such a way that our material necessities are kept to a minimum so that, maximum time and energy is spent on spiritual pursuits. That is true lifestyle management and education in it's truest sense. Srila Prabhupada put it aptly as - "simple living and high thinking". This kind of thought process is completely contrary to the ultra-modern, "so called" educated mindset of "simply living and hardly thinking".

The Srimad-Bhagvatam 2.2.3 points us and urges us in this direction in the following words -

ataḥ kavir nāmasu yāvad arthaḥ
syād apramatto vyavasāya-buddhiḥ
siddhe 'nyathārthe na yateta tatra
pariśramaḿ tatra samīkṣamāṇah

"For this reason the enlightened person should endeavor only for the minimum necessities of life while in the world of names. He should be intelligently fixed and never endeavor for unwanted things, being competent to perceive practically that all such endeavors are merely hard labor for nothing."

I am closing this write-up with including the purport to this verse by His Divine Grace Bhaktivendanta Swami Srila Prabhupada. Please read each word carefully, it is filled with deep meaning and a sense of urgency.

"The bhagavata-dharma, or the cult of Srimad-Bhagavatam, is perfectly distinct from the way of fruitive activities, which are considered by the devotees to be merely a waste of time. The whole universe, or for that matter all material existence, is moving on as jagat, simply for planning business to make one's position very comfortable or secure, although everyone sees that this existence is neither comfortable nor secure and can never become comfortable or secure at any stage of development. Those who are captivated by the illusory advancement of material civilization (following the way of phantasmagoria) are certainly madmen.

The whole material creation is a jugglery of names only; in fact, it is nothing but a bewildering creation of matter like earth, water and fire. The buildings, furniture, cars, bungalows, mills, factories, industries, peace, war or even the highest perfection of material science, namely atomic energy and electronics, are all simply bewildering names of material elements with their concomitant reactions of the three modes. Since the devotee of the Lord knows them perfectly well, he is not interested in creating unwanted things for a situation which is not at all reality, but simply names of no more significance than the babble of sea waves. The great kings, leaders and soldiers fight with one another in order to perpetuate their names in history. They are forgotten in due course of time, and they make a place for another era in history. But the devotee realizes how much history and historical persons are useless products of flickering time. The fruitive worker aspires after a big fortune in the matter of wealth, woman and worldly adoration, but those who are fixed in perfect reality are not at all interested in such false things. For them it is all a waste of time.

Since every second of human life is important, an enlightened man should be very careful to utilize time very cautiously. One second of human life wasted in the vain research of planning for happiness in the material world can never be replaced, even if one spends millions of coins of gold. Therefore, the transcendentalist desiring freedom from the clutches of maya, or the illusory activities of life, is warned herewith not to be captivated by the external features of fruitive actors. Human life is never meant for sense gratification, but for self-realization. Srimad-Bhagavatam instructs us solely on this subject from the very beginning to the end. Human life is simply meant for self-realization.

The civilization which aims at this utmost perfection never indulges in creating unwanted things, and such a perfect civilization prepares men only to accept the bare necessities of life or to follow the principle of the best use of a bad bargain. Our material bodies and our lives in that connection are bad bargains because the living entity is actually spirit, and spiritual advancement of the living entity is absolutely necessary. Human life is intended for the realization of this important factor, and one should act accordingly, accepting only the bare necessities of life and depending more on God's gift without diversion of human energy for any other purpose, such as being mad for material enjoyment. The materialistic advancement of civilization is called "the civilization of the demons," which ultimately ends in wars and scarcity.

The transcendentalist is specifically warned herewith to be fixed in mind, so that even if there is difficulty in plain living and high thinking he will not budge even an inch from his stark determination. For a transcendentalist, it is a suicidal policy to be intimately in touch with the sense gratifiers of the world, because such a policy will frustrate the ultimate gain of life. Sukadeva Gosvami met Maharaja Parikshit when the latter felt a necessity for such a meeting. It is the duty of a transcendentalist to help persons who desire real salvation and to support the cause of salvation. One might note that Sukadeva Gosvami never met Maharaja Parikshit while he was ruling as a great king."

- Achyut Gopal Das