The perils of a new birth in the material world (Sankhya #23)
In the same way association of pure devotees is the gateway to liberation, association with materialistic people is the gateway to hell. A new birth brings the risk of falling into bad association.
« SANKHYA, The Philosophy of Lord Kapila
The perils of a new birth in the material world
In the previous passage, Lord Kapila described both the situation of the ordinary baby who just suffers in the womb and the situation of the pious baby, who prays to the Lord and thus comes under his protection. Both face similar difficulties both in the womb and outside, but there is a crucial distinction between them: The soul who is forgetful of Krsna and desires to just enjoy the material world, turning his back to the Lord is on his own, just enjoying and suffering the results of his activities under the laws of Karma, while the soul who prays to the Lord comes under his personal protection. The Lord may still allow one to face the reactions of his karma, but such reactions are filtered and provided in ways that foster one's growth, and not just as mechanical punishment, like in the case of the materialist.
Prabhupada explains this difference by the analogy of the two children living in the street, one being the son of a rich man, and the other an ordinary orphan who has no one caring for him. Even though the son of the rich man is lost, living in the street, forgetful of his parentage, his father is caring for him, and trying to bring him back home. The ordinary orphan, however, is just struggling on his own, just surviving by whatever means he can. Similarly, when the soul prays to Krsna while in the womb, or at any point in his life, the Lord gets in his case and starts guiding him so he can find his way back home. We may forget about these prayers and become again absorbed in material life, but the Lord doesn't forget and keeps remembering us and bringing us back to the proper path. Due to this protection, our position, even while forgetful, is much better than the ordinary materialist, who is on his own. Naturally, the Lord cares for everyone, but the materialist says God doesn't exist, and thus the Lord doesn't directly participate in his life.
In these verses, Lord Kapila focuses on the materialist, showing the traps presented by the illusory energy and the result of falling victim to such allurements. For a materialist who is returning to human life after suffering in hell and the animal species, the goal in human life is to come in contact with devotees and at least start his process of devotional service, so he can have the opportunity of receiving again a human body and continuing his process of spiritual practice. As devotees, we have the duty of helping others to achieve this goal, while at the same time developing our spiritual practice and trying to finally become free from the influence of material energy.
"Lord Kapila continued: The ten-month-old living entity has these desires even while in the womb. But while he thus extols the Lord, the wind that helps parturition propels him forth with his face turned downward so that he may be born.
Pushed downward all of a sudden by the wind, the child comes out with great trouble, head downward, breathless and deprived of memory due to severe agony.
The child thus falls on the ground, smeared with stool and blood, and plays just like a worm germinated from the stool. He loses his superior knowledge and cries under the spell of māyā.
After coming out of the abdomen, the child is given to the care of persons who are unable to understand what he wants, and thus he is nursed by such persons. Unable to refuse whatever is given to him, he falls into undesirable circumstances.
Laid down on a foul bed infested with sweat and germs, the poor child is incapable of scratching his body to get relief from his itching sensation, to say nothing of sitting up, standing or even moving.
In his helpless condition, gnats, mosquitoes, bugs and other germs bite the baby, whose skin is tender, just as smaller worms bite a big worm. The child, deprived of his wisdom, cries bitterly.
In this way, the child passes through his childhood, suffering different kinds of distress, and attains boyhood. In boyhood also he suffers pain over desires to get things he can never achieve. And thus, due to ignorance, he becomes angry and sorry.
With the growth of the body, the living entity, in order to vanquish his soul, increases his false prestige and anger and thereby creates enmity towards similarly lusty people.
By such ignorance, the living entity accepts the material body, which is made of five elements, as himself. With this misunderstanding, he accepts nonpermanent things as his own and increases his ignorance in the darkest region.
For the sake of the body, which is a source of constant trouble to him and which follows him because he is bound by ties of ignorance and fruitive activities, he performs various actions which cause him to be subjected to repeated birth and death." (SB 3.31.22-31)
Just like we forget the difficulties we experienced in the womb, we generally don't remember the difficulties from childhood. Children experience lots of anxiety and suffering, due to neglect from their parents, difficulties in dealing with other children, unsatisfied desires, physical discomfort with the growth of teeth and other changes, and so on. Because their intelligence is not as well developed as an adult’s, they suffer much more from these circumstances than an adult would. We often tend to romanticize childhood, painting it as an age of happiness, but it is not like that. It is a period of challenges and struggles. Even a child who has the most caring parents experiences difficulties.
The difficulties in childhood are followed by the struggles of adolescence: the anxiety over finding a romantic partner, as well as studies and work, frustrations related to not finding our place in the world, and so on. This is followed by the hard work of adult life and the discomforts and frustrations of old age. Both the devotee and the materialist have to go through these experiences, but the devotee is in a better position due to his access to transcendental knowledge. If we properly use this opportunity, we can see through these material difficulties with the eyes of transcendental knowledge, and thus gradually develop detachment to this world.
In the Bhagavad-gita (6.35), Krsna explains that although it is extremely difficult to control our minds, this can be achieved through suitable practice and detachment. The suitable practice is the process of Krsna consciousness, while detachment is gradually developed by the cultivation of transcendental knowledge. As Krsna explains, when the mind is controlled and we continue practicing the devotional process by appropriate means, success is guaranteed. Therefore, the cultivation of transcendental knowledge is essential in all stages of the process.
The problem of bad association
In the same way association of pure devotees is the gateway to liberation, association with materialistic people is the gateway to hell. By associating with pure devotees we tend to gradually become like them and as a result, follow their footsteps and reach the same destination. Similarly, by associating with materialists we gradually acquire their bad habits and follow the same path they are taking. In this 4th section, Lord Kapila elaborates on this topic, giving us details of how this process works, its results, and how we can avoid it.
"If, therefore, the living entity again associates with the path of unrighteousness, influenced by sensually minded people engaged in the pursuit of sexual enjoyment and the gratification of the palate, he again goes to hell as before.
He becomes devoid of truthfulness, cleanliness, mercy, gravity, spiritual intelligence, shyness, austerity, fame, forgiveness, control of the mind, control of the senses, fortune and all such opportunities.
One should not associate with a coarse fool who is bereft of the knowledge of self-realization and who is no more than a dancing dog in the hands of a woman.
The infatuation and bondage which accrue to a man from attachment to any other object is not as complete as that resulting from attachment to a woman or to the fellowship of men who are fond of women.
At the sight of his own daughter, Brahmā was bewildered by her charms and shamelessly ran up to her in the form of a stag when she took the form of a hind.
Amongst all kinds of living entities begotten by Brahmā, namely men, demigods and animals, none but the sage Nārāyaṇa is immune to the attraction of māyā in the form of woman.
Just try to understand the mighty strength of My māyā in the shape of woman, who by the mere movement of her eyebrows can keep even the greatest conquerors of the world under her grip.
One who aspires to reach the culmination of yoga and has realized his self by rendering service unto Me should never associate with an attractive woman, for such a woman is declared in the scripture to be the gateway to hell for the advancing devotee.
The woman, created by the Lord, is the representation of māyā, and one who associates with such māyā by accepting services must certainly know that this is the way of death, just like a blind well covered with grass.
A living entity who, as a result of attachment to a woman in his previous life, has been endowed with the form of a woman, foolishly looks upon māyā in the form of a man, her husband, as the bestower of wealth, progeny, house and other material assets.
A woman, therefore, should consider her husband, her house and her children to be the arrangement of the external energy of the Lord for her death, just as the sweet singing of the hunter is death for the deer." (SB 3.31.32-42)
Sex life is the basic expression of our desire to enjoy matter. From this basic desire, many other desires ramify and one becomes firmly rooted in the material world. When it is said that women have nine times more sexual desire than men, this doesn't necessarily refer to carnal desire, but to this basic driving force to enjoy matter, including foods, clothes, all kinds of material comforts, social status, relationships, etc.
In the spiritual world, relationships exist centered around Krsna and the common goal of serving Him. Souls in the spiritual world enjoy, using their spiritual senses, millions of times more than we do, but their enjoyment is centered on Krsna. In other words, in the spiritual world, everyone acts based on their eternal relationship with Krsna, and when Krsna is happy, everyone is happy. In the material world, on the other hand, we try to enjoy ourselves separately from Krsna, and this is the source of all our problems.
In the material world, relationships are centered around the gratification of our senses. Because of the covering of the false ego, we identify with the desires of the mind and try to satisfy them through the actions of the senses. Practically speaking, the original propensity of the soul to serve Krsna is replaced by service to the senses. There are different objects of the senses, like foods, smells, and different types of objects and experiences, but nothing creates an attachment as strong as sex life. Lord Kapila warns us of the dangers of associating with people who are too involved in it.
As Prabhupada explains: "Generally, people are concerned with the satisfaction of the tongue and the satisfaction of the genitals. That is material life. Material life means eat, drink, be merry and enjoy, with no concern for understanding one’s spiritual identity and the process of spiritual advancement. Since materialistic people are concerned with the tongue, belly and genitals, if anyone wants to advance in spiritual life he must be very careful about associating with such people. To associate with such materialistic men is to commit purposeful suicide in the human form of life. It is said, therefore, that an intelligent man should give up such undesirable association and should always mix with saintly persons. When he is in association with saintly persons, all his doubts about the spiritual expansion of life are eradicated, and he makes tangible progress on the path of spiritual understanding."
Purifying our relationships
What is the solution then? Should we associate only with Brahmacaris? Srila Prabhupada explains:
"In these instructions of Lord Kapiladeva it is explained that not only is woman the gateway to hell for man, but man is also the gateway to hell for woman. It is a question of attachment. A man becomes attached to a woman because of her service, her beauty and many other assets, and similarly a woman becomes attached to a man for his giving her a nice place to live, ornaments, dress and children. It is a question of attachment for one another. As long as either is attached to the other for such material enjoyment, the woman is dangerous for the man, and the man is also dangerous for the woman. But if the attachment is transferred to Kṛṣṇa, both of them become Kṛṣṇa conscious, and then marriage is very nice."
"Man and woman should live together as householders in relationship with Kṛṣṇa, only for the purpose of discharging duties in the service of Kṛṣṇa. Engage the children, engage the wife, and engage the husband, all in Kṛṣṇa conscious duties, and then all these bodily or material attachments will disappear. Since the medium is Kṛṣṇa, the consciousness is pure and there is no possibility of degradation at any time."
When this tendency to satisfy the senses is again directed to the service of Krsna, we can live happily in any position in this material world and use our senses without being degraded by them. This is the essence of the process of Karma-yoga described by Krsna in the Bhagavad-gita. Srila Prabhupada mentions that the senses of a Krsna-conscious person are like serpents with broken fangs. When the senses are engaged in the service of Krsna, they lose their potency in alluring us and instead serve as instruments for our purification. Even sex life, which is the strongest bound to this world can become instrumental in our liberation when properly engaged in Krsna consciousness, performed inside marriage with the goal of begetting good children and then educating them in Krsna consciousness. Family life also exists in the spiritual world. In fact, most of the personal associates of the Lord are married. The difference is that their married life is centered around the service to the Lord, instead of gratification of the material senses.
For a man, the propensity to see women as objects for the satisfaction of the senses is the most formidable enemy on the path of self-realization. Lust is just like an arrow, that is constantly looking for a target. When a man has lust inside, he will be constantly attracted by different women. If he goes in this direction, he will just try to seduce one woman after another, without an end in sight, and will constantly lose his intelligence at the sight of a beautiful woman. Because all men contaminated by the material modes have this lust inside, the scriptures emphasize the allurement of women to them. As Lord Kapila mentions, even Lord Brahma became attracted, due to his work of creation, which puts him in contact with the mode of passion. As Lord Kapila mentions, only Nara-Nārāyaṇa ṛṣi are immune to it. In other passages, Srila Prabhupada adds that pure Vaishnavas like Haridasa Thakura are also immune to the allurement of women. This is possible because such pure devotees are also in the transcendental platform, just like the Lord is.
Women also face a similar allurement, seeing men as providers of the objects of the senses they desire. Women have a strong desire for psychological comfort, companionship, attention, etc. as well as material assets such as a comfortable house, money, social status, and so on, and men are seen as providers of all of that. Just as a materialistic man will tend to go from one woman to another, trying to increase his enjoyment, a materialistic woman will also look for better men who can provide her with more material facilities. However, by chasing this path of sense enjoyment, a woman finds nothing apart from death.
Although these materialistic propensities are so dangerous for both, it's very hard to give it up immediately, since this requires one to be on a very high spiritual level. The solution is then offered in two stages. A person who has material desires should first practice the principles of family life in Krsna consciousness, using his or her family life as a platform for advancing further. A man should thus train himself to see his wife not as an object of sense gratification, but as a soul to protect and engage in the service of the Lord, and similarly, a woman should see the husband not as a mere supplier of material facilities, but as a servant of the Lord she should serve and support. We can see that in both cases the spouse is seen as an object of service, and not of enjoyment. Selfless service is the antidote for lust, and in family life, service to the spouse and children, regardless of inconveniences we may face on the way, is the path to progress.
That's the essential difference between material and spiritual: material relationships are based on lust and the desire for personal sense enjoyment, while spiritual relationships are based on service. This selfless service helps us to reconnect to our original nature as servants of the Lord.
We can see that scriptures emphasize the example of chaste women such as Devahuti, Draupadi, and Sita, who would remain faithful to their husbands even in difficult situations, as well as the example of men like Kardama Muni, Priyavrata and Ambarīṣa Maharaja, who would not lose track to the goal of life, even while playing the role of exemplary husbands. Even the base tendency for sex life can be purified inside the family environment by conceiving children and educating them in Krsna consciousness. By focusing on performing these duties, one can avoid the pitfalls of materialistic family life and advance in spiritual consciousness, as described by Srimad Prabhupada. However, to the extent one sees family life as a means for satisfying material desires, it will remain an obstacle, as described by Lord Kapila.