Society

Published on July 7th, 2023 | by HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

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Anxiety — People try to forget it with Alcohol and Sex

Material existence is always full of anxiety. People are always trying to find many ways to mitigate anxiety, but because they are not guided by a real leader, they try to forget material anxiety through drink and sex indulgence. Foolish people do not know that by attempting to escape anxiety by drink and sex, they simply increase their duration of material life. It is not possible to escape material anxiety in this way.

Everyone has a blazing fire within his heart–a blazing fire of anxiety. That is the nature of material existence. Always, everyone has anxiety; no one is free from it. Even a small bird has anxiety. If you give the small bird some grains to eat, he’ll eat them, but he won’t eat very peacefully. He’ll look this way and that way–“Is somebody coming to kill me?” This is material existence. Everyone, even a president like Mr. Nixon, is full of anxieties, what to speak of others. Even Gandhi, in our country–he was full of anxiety. All politicians are full of anxiety. They may hold a very exalted post, but still the material disease–anxiety–is there.

So if you want to be anxiety-less, then you must take shelter of the guru, the spiritual master. And the test of the guru is that by following his instructions you’ll be free from anxiety. This is the test. Don’t try to find a cheap guru or a fashionable guru. Just as you sometimes keep a dog as a fashion, if you want to keep a guru as a fashion–“I have a guru“–that will not help. You must accept a guru who can extinguish the blazing fire of anxiety within your heart. That is the first test of the guru.

The second test is, mahaprabhoh kirtana-nrtya-gita vaditra-madyan-manaso rasena. The second symptom of the guru is that he is always engaged in chanting, glorifying Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu–that is his business. Mahaprabhoh kirtana-nrtya-gita. The spiritual master is chanting the holy name of the Lord and dancing, because that is the remedy for all calamities within this material world. (JSD 4.2 The Bona Fide Spiritual Master)

In this Krsna consciousness movement the activities are not material. They’re all spiritual. But still, because it is being enacted in the material world, we also have so much anxiety because we are in the material world, although that anxiety is also bhakti. It is nothing else. It is not material. When we are anxious how to protect a property, how to push on this movement, how people will take it, what line of action we shall take, this is also anxiety, but that anxiety is for Krsna. Therefore it is bhakti.

Even in Vrndavana there is anxiety. Radharani is in anxiety that “Krsna is not here.

How Krsna will come?” The gopis are also in anxiety. Gopis are in so much anxiety that it is said when Krsna used to go to the forest for tending the cows, the gopis were thinking at home, “Krsna’s feet are so soft that we hesitate to take them on our breast, but He is now walking in the forest, and there are so many stones and pricks, and they are giving pain to Krsna’s lotus feet.” Thinking like this, the gopis fainted. This is gopi. Krsna is out of the village, and they are at home, and they are thinking of Krsna, and they fainted. This is also anxiety, so much anxiety they fainted, but it is for Krsna.

Therefore gopis are exalted. Ramya kecid upasana vraja-vadhu-varga virya kalpita. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu He recommends, “There is no better type of worshiping Krsna than it was planned by the gopis.” So there is also anxiety. So anxiety is spiritual anxiety and material anxiety. Spiritual anxiety means you are advancing in spiritual life, and material anxiety means you are going downhill. So cintam aparimeyam ca.

But the demons, materialistic persons, demon means materialistic person, are simply busy for temporary bodily comforts. They do not know anything else. The body is material. Therefore all their activities are for comfort of the body… That is demon, more or less. Therefore the demons are full of anxiety.

Everyone has anxiety. Just like ordinary man he has got some anxiety: “How to maintain my family?

How to get some money to maintain family?” like that. But the demons, their anxiety is unmeasurable, unlimited. You’ll find big, big businessmen. They have got very, very long project, “How to do this? How to do this? How to increase this factory? How to make it world-renowned?” and so on, so on, so on. There is no limit of anxiety. Cintam aparimeyam ca. Unlimited means they have no idea of future life, they do not believe there is life after death, mostly, at the present moment. Formerly they used to believe, even these asuras.

So anyway, cintam aparimeyam ca, that should be transferred to krsna–cinta. Satatam kirtayanto mam yatantas ca drdha-vratah. If you always be busy in glorifying or chanting the holy name of the Lord, then your cinta, anxiety, is transferred. By same cinta… Cinta will go on; you cannot stop it. Mind you cannot stop thinking even for a moment. Either you shall think of this material life or you shall think of Krsna. So the Krsna consciousness means instead of thinking of this material life, you think of Krsna. Thinking is not to be stopped. That is not possible. You cannot stop thinking even for a moment. Simply you have to practice. Instead of thinking these material things, you think of Krsna. That is wanted. (750207BG.HAW Lectures)

So there is another world. That information is given here. Mayatite vyapi. Vyapi means very extensive. This whole material world is one-fourth of Krsna’s expansion, one-fourth. And that Vaikunthaloka is three-fourths. So therefore it is called vyapi. Vyapi means very extensive. We cannot calculate even this material existence. It is only one-fourth. Now, how it will be possible for us to calculate the vyapi vaikuntha-loka? Vyapi-vaikuntha-loka. Vaikuntha means… Vi means without, and kuntha means anxiety. So Vaikunthaloka means there is no anxiety. There is no anxiety. (750401CC.MAY Lectures)

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Tags: anxiety, stress

About the Author

HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Founded the Hare Krishna Movement in 1966 in New York. In only 11 years he spread the movement all over the world. He wrote more than 80 books including Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Sri Isopanisad. Prabhupada's books constitute a complete library of Vedic philosophy, religion, literature and culture.

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