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RICH FATHER'S POOR SON
Revealed scriptures address all the living beings as the children of
the Supreme Lord, and instruct them to acquire their father's property
for achieving eternal well-being. God
isomnipotent,omnipresent,omniscient,all-beautiful,all-kind,all-majestic,all-being,all-intelligent
and all-blissful Supreme Personality. As the children of such glorious
Universal Father, all the living beings(spirit souls) should have
inherited
immortal and blissful divine qualities. Unfortunately, most of the
living
beings in the world are always distressed due to diseases,
poverty,afflictions,problems,grief,fear,sorrow,misery,old-age,degradation,down-fall
and death.
For the purpose of solving the worldly
problems
and bestowing welfare, the rulers and reformers do undertake various
secular
programs, as per their own intelligence. If we keenly notice the
general
state of affairs, the basic human problems like dissatisfaction,
mistrust,
ignorance, insecurity, injustice ,hatred, discrimination, misguidance,
suffering etc; are not at all cured by the secular developments. The
superficial
welfare measures of the empiric understanding are failing to reach the
root of the problems. Especially the godless-secularism is simply
creating
ever-new problems, without being able to solve any of them .It is quite
strange that, secularists give great assurances to the humanity, which
are proving to be false and hollow like eternally post-dated cheques.
Regarding the achievement of our absolute spiritual wealth, Lord Sri
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu explained about the exact process to Sri
Sanatana
Goswami, through a parable of "rich father's poor son". Through this
story,
even a layman can understand about the real welfare of the living
beings
as well as the method of attaining the ultimate goal of human life. The
anecdote is as follows:
The story is that of a poor man who was utterly distressed due to
poverty.
Once a fortunate-teller came to him and observing his pitiable
condition,
expressed that there was no meaning in spending a destitute life, as he
could easily become affluent by acquiring his father's property. The
fortunate-teller
told that, his father who left that house long ago, while departing had
deposited large amount of wealth within the premises of that house.
With
a little effort, if the wealth is acquired, that could permanently root
out his poverty and make him extremely rich. The most essential factor
was that poor man had to adopt proper means to acquire the wealth,
since
the adoption of wrong means shall create more problems and confiscate
the
wealth.
For the purpose of unearthing the father's property, the poor man
should
dig in the different directions of the house. Digging in the right
direction
alone can provide the treasure, while digging in the wrong directions
is
productive of harmful consequences. In this regard, the fortune-teller
enlightens the poor man and explains regarding the various kinds of
results
available by the selection of various directions. By digging in the
southern
side of the house, a lot of wasps and hornets would come out and create
a havoc. On digging in the western side, a goblin would arise and
confiscate
the wealth. On digging in the northern side, a large black python would
appear and swallow all of them. By digging a little in the eastern side
of the house, a treasure of wealth would be easily unearthed.
The teaching of the
anecdote
is as follows,- Divine Love is the greatest eternal wealth for the
living-beings.
The fortune-teller is a God-realized person who is well-versed in the
science
of universal human welfare. The miserable life of mundane attachment is
a destitute condition for the living beings. The holy preceptor guides
the surrounded disciples to achieve the wealth of Divine Lord, by
becoming
free from mundane miseries. The misguided jivas should avoid evil
association
and accept holy company to achieve eternal well-being. Among the four
sides
of the house, the southern side signifies the path of
Karma(elevation),western
side signifies the path of Yoga(occult powers),northern side signifies
the path of monism, whereas-the eastern side is synonymous with the
path
of pure devotion.
Digging in
the
eastern side symbolizes the path of devotion followed by all noble
devotees
of the past ages. By following this eternally established path of pure
devotion, one can quickly achieve divine love, which is eternal
treasure
for all the jivas. As soon as the divine love is acquired, all kinds of
illusion, ignorance, suffering and mundane limitations are rooted out.
Divine Love verily subjugates the Supreme Lord and provides infinite
bliss
to the devotee. In the relation to the path of devotion Bhakti, all
other
performances are insignificant and useless. Therefore, those who
follows
the path of Karma, Jnana and Yoga are bound to fail in achieving the
highest
well being. The path of Karma is compared with the stings of hornets
and
wasps, as it entangles the living beings to the mundane sufferings of
birth,
death, old age, disease, rebirth etc; being unable to transcend the
mundane
limitations. The path of Yoga presents some occult powers and misguides
a person away from the real goal of human life. The path of jnana
increases
the greed for liberation and causing a delusion of oneness with God,
distracts
the jivas and roots out their serving tendency towards the Lord,
thereby
terminates their spiritual mission of life, just like the swallowing up
by a mighty python.
Eradicating
of poverty or release from mundane sufferings are not the main fruits
of
divine love. Its real fruit is the achievement of eternal bliss which
amounts
toinfinite wealth for the jivas. The poverty automatically disappears
along
with the attainment of wealth. One need not do any separate effort to
remove
poverty. All the revealed scriptures declare that;-1)The Supreme Lord
is
the eternal master and the jivas souls are His eternal servants. This
is
known as the knowledge of relationship.2)The only means to realize God
is Bhakti or pure devotional service. This is known as the main purport
of all the revealed scriptures.3)The ultimate goal of human life is to
acquire divine love or Krishna Prema. This is known as the quintessence
or the fifth summum bonum. Those who mould their lives in accordance to
these vedic teachings can transcend mundane limitations and attain the
treasure of permanent well being.
Being born in the
mortal
world, the unfortunate human beings are crazily rushing in all
directions
for acquiring riches, name and fame, power, position, sense-pleasure,
facilities,
followers, agreeable experiences, palatable dishes, longevity etc.
During
the time of birth, one appears in this world with closed fists,
aspiring
to keep all the worldly amenities within his control. But alas! while
departing
from this world he keeps his fingers widely stretched to declare that,
not even a needle he could take away along with him. People being
intoxicated
due to mundane allurements keep on hunting for worldly enjoyments just
as months rushing towards the maddening form of fire. Compared to the
spiritual
reality, this world is just like a mirage or a dream. Only fortunate
soul
tries to transcend the mundane allurements by the help of holy company
and devotional cultivation.
You
cannot
find even a single person who is happy by acquiring all kind of worldly
possessions. To generalize the worldly experience of human beings, they
feel a great admiration for all that they have not yet acquired.
As soon as they acquire it, they feel it distasteful. This clearly
proves
that, nothing of this world can give real solace to the human beings.
They
should be used, just to satisfy our immediate needs; nothing less or
more
than our requirement should be accepted. If you have any intelligence
still
left in you, use it for the acquisition of Divine Love, the eternal
treasure
for the living beings.
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