Tag: greed

Life as a football is no fun

Are you living the football experience? Are you constantly driven by desires and impulses like lust and anger? Despite life’s turmoil, there’s hope for liberation through spiritual practice. By seeking connection with genuine spiritual guidance, you can experience true freedom and purpose, transcending the endless kicking in material existence. Want to try it out?

A football (soccer ball) is kicked around on a field, from one side to the other. Sometimes one team has the ball, sometimes another. Sometimes it’s thrown in from the sidelines, sometimes it’s kicked out of bounds. Rarely, it ends inside the net of the goalpost… Sometimes it’s held in the armpit of the referee… If a football match lasts ninety minutes, then football is constantly moving around, from here to there, to another place…

Now suppose the football claims that it is moving by it’s own free will. The football claims that it is bouncing around from here to there on it’s own accord. Would you agree with the football?

No, you would say to the football, you’re being kicked and thrown around by the players. You have no free will, some will add.

We are all like that football. We get kicked around all over the place. Yet we claim that our trajectory is by free will! Actually, we’re kicked around due a misuse of free will! More on that in a moment.

How am I being kicked around, do you ask?

`Well, we have the feelings of lust and anger. Lust means the intense greed to have or own something. Lust means the urge to please my senses and mind. That lust propels us to great lengths. So we can say that the lust is kicking us around. And if the lust is fulfilled? Then we want more, naturally. More and more. Stronger kicks. But if the lust is not fulfilled? Then anger takes over! More kicking!

We can also see that we have 6 senses, including the mind. The eyes, ears, tongue, skin, and nose… plus the most insistent of them all, the mind. The eye wants to see something? Kick. The tongue wants to taste something? Kiick. The skin wants to touch something? Kiiick! The nose wants to smell something? Kiiiick! The ears want to hear something? Kiiiiick! And of course, the most resounding kick comes from the mind! Of course, the biggest kicks are from the mind… Out of bounds!

Sometimes we are kicked by our own mind and body, but sometimes we are impelled by others… A swarm of mosquitoes? A bed full of bugs? Cockroaches or rats anyone? Teeming, jostling, pushing crowds of people? Black flies, bears, you name it!

Sometimes we’re impelled by the forces of nature. A kick from a flood, maybe. Or a kick from fire. Worse, a kick from a hurricane, or an earthquake even.

Sometimes we’re impelled by illusion, sometimes by envy. Sometimes we’re compelled greed or madness. And all of these kick us around, from one end of the world to another. From one lifetime to another sometimes. Again and again.

Being kicked for ever. Ad infinitum.

All of this kicking, and we say we’re doing everything “by my own sweet will”?

In the famous Frank Sinatra Song, a misguided protagonist foolishly croons…

And now, the end is near
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I’ll say it…And more, much more than this clear… I did it my way

Regrets, I’ve had a few
…I did what I had to do
…And more, much more than this… I did it my way

Yes, there were times, I’m sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew… …And did it my way

I’ve loved, I’ve laughed and cried
I’ve had my fill, my share of losing
And now, as tears subside
…Oh, no, oh, no, not me…I did it my way

For what is a man, what has he got?
…The record shows I took the blows
And did it my way

Yes, it was my way – Frank Sinatra “My Way”

Does that sound familiar?

It’s the football, even though getting kicked around all over the place, claiming “I did it my way”. Poor football!

But, there is hope, for all of us footballs in the material world.

কাম-ক্রোধের দাস হঞা তার লাথি খায় ।
ভ্রমিতে ভ্রমিতে যদি সাধু-বৈদ্য পায় ॥ ১৪ ॥
তাঁর উপদেশ-মন্ত্রে পিশাচী পলায় ।
কৃষ্ণভক্তি পায়, তবে কৃষ্ণ-নিকট যায় ॥ ১৫ ॥

kāma-krodhera dāsa hañā tāra lāthi khāya
bhramite bhramite yadi sādhu-vaidya pāya
tāṅra upadeśa-mantre piśācī palāya
kṛṣṇa-bhakti pāya, tabe kṛṣṇa-nikaṭa yāya

“In this way the conditioned soul becomes the servant of lusty desires, and when these are not fulfilled, he becomes the servant of anger and continues to be kicked by the external energy, māyā. Wandering and wandering throughout the universe, he may by chance get the association of a devotee physician, whose instructions and hymns make the witch of the external energy flee. The conditioned soul thus gets into touch with devotional service to Lord Kṛṣṇa, and in this way he can approach nearer and nearer to the Lord. – https://vedabase.io/en/library/cc/madhya/22/14-15/

Srila Prabhupada, the spiritual master of my spiritual master comments in a lecture on these verses…

Very nice. In this way we are being kicked up. The freedom of football. The football is kicked from this party and thrown to the other party. The other party kicks and it comes. The football thinks . . . if the football thinks that, “I am in freedom movement,” so what is that freedom? Kicked from this party to that party and that . . . so here the same thing is said, kāma-krodhera dāsa hañā tāra lāthi khāya.

Just like the football players—the football is under the kicking method of two parties—similarly, we are under the kicking method of two things, lust and anger. We are lusty, and when our lust is not fulfilled, then we become kicked by anger. Two things. Just like the football is kicked by this party and that party, similarly, our position is we are being kicked sometimes by lust and sometimes by anger. So we are going on leading our life in this way. – His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada https://vanisource.org/wiki/670109_-_Lecture_CC_Madhya_22.11-15_-_New_York?hl=football

I am a spirit soul. So are you, dear reader. As spirit souls, we’re not meant to be footballs of lust or anger. We are not meant to be subjected to the vagaries of the misuse of free will. As part-and-parcels of Krishna, we have free will. When used properly, it results in a loving harmonious life. This life is rich with ecstatic relationships with Krishna and with each other.

If we act genuinely as a spirit soul, then there is no more getting kicked around.

My dear reader, please pray with me… My dear Lord Sri Krishna, for ages, countless eons, and trillions of lifetimes I am kicked around. I have been struggling with my own lust and anger.

Please place me as one of the atoms at your lotus feet. Then, I can experience true free will in Your service.

Hare Krishna!

The sack of rice

There is enough for every creature’s need, but there isn enough even for one man’s greed.

My 7 year old son Vitthal Bhakta told me this story.

Once upon a time, there was a farmer. He used to earn his livelihood by selling rice he grew on his farm. One year, after the harvest, he was on his way to Pandharpur, which was four hours away. He was blissfully chanting Harinam Sankirtan (names of God) during the journey. On his way by bullock cart with sixty four sacks of rice, one of his sacks fell off the cart but he was so engrossed in his singing that he did not notice.

One of the villagers along the road cried out “You lost one of your sacks, it fell down back there”. When he heard that he came to external consciousness and opened his eyes. He tied up his bulls to a nearby tree and walked back. He saw that the bag had burst open and the grains of rice had spilled out on the ground, white grains shining in the sun.

Sparrow eating grain

When he came closer, he noticed there were some birds eating the rice. So the saintly farmer hid behind a tree to wait for the birds to finish their meal. A goat and a cow also joined the birds, and they all ate their fill. Then they went away.

Sweet Cow

When they were finished, before the farmer could come out from behind the tree, another man suddenly appeared and began to drag away the heavy bag of rice.

Greedy Man

The farmer said “wait, that is my bag of rice, it fell from my cart, and I have come to take it back”. The farmer gave the person several handfuls of rice and took the bag back to his cart.

When he reached Pandharpur, he sold fifty of his sacks to get enough money to live till the next season, and offered the remaining fourteen sacks to Lord Vitthal of Pandharpur. He said to the Lord “I learned a lesson today, that the birds and the animals, they take whatever they need, and then they go away. But man is so greedy that he hoards more than he needs”. He concluded, “there is enough in this world for every creature’s needs, but there is not enough for a single man’s greed”.

Lord Vitthala of Pandharpur

All food and all necessities of life are provided by God. We may work in the fields, we may work in the factories, but all that we need and want is actually the property of God. Just because we transform it does not make it ours. The earth, the water, the sunlight, and the power of a seed to grow, we make none of these, we have no power over these. We may know how to utilize these, but that does not make them ours.

We cannot make a single thing by ourselves or live for a single day without the mercy of God.

To consider something “mine to do with as I want” is a crime. We should be responsible curators of the gifts that have been bestowed upon us.

अन्नाद्भ‍वन्ति भूतानि पर्जन्यादन्नसम्भवः ।
यज्ञा‍द्भ‍‍वति पर्जन्यो यज्ञः कर्मसमुद्भ‍वः ॥ १४ ॥

annād bhavanti bhūtāni
parjanyād anna-sambhavaḥ
yajñād bhavati parjanyo
yajñaḥ karma-samudbhavaḥ

All living bodies subsist on food grains, which are produced from rains. Rains are produced by performance of yajña [sacrifice], and yajña is born of prescribed duties.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/3/14/
Paddy Field in the rain

कर्म ब्रह्मोद्भ‍वं विद्धि ब्रह्माक्षरसमुद्भ‍वम् ।
तस्मात्सर्वगतं ब्रह्म नित्यं यज्ञे प्रतिष्ठितम् ॥ १५ ॥

karma brahmodbhavaṁ viddhi
brahmākṣara-samudbhavam
tasmāt sarva-gataṁ brahma
nityaṁ yajñe pratiṣṭhitam

Regulated activities are prescribed in the Vedas, and the Vedas are directly manifested from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Consequently the all-pervading Transcendence is eternally situated in acts of sacrifice.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/3/15/

What is sacrifice? Sacrifice means to please God with our thoughts, words, and deeds. Every thought, word, and deed should be to please God, who is giving us so much at every moment.

The Ishopanishad says this best:

īśāvāsyam idaḿ sarvaṁ
yat kiñca jagatyāṁ jagat
tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā
mā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam

Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/iso/1/
Sri Ishopanishad - the Science of God

Hare Krishna!