Srimad Bhagavatam – day 415
Upendrāya namah
Prahlāda continued, “O Lord Narasimha! All the measures taken up by living entities in this world to dispel their grief give only temporary relief. There is no permanent remedy for sorrows”.
It is impossible to guarantee that karma has come to an end for any individual. The file called karma can never permanently be closed. Any sorrow which arises is temporary. Hence only temporary measures can be used to eradicate these sorrows. There is no permanent measure.
Why do these temporary sorrows chase us birth after birth? Although these sorrows are temporary they appear to be endless and permanent. Here it implies that the sins of the many past births are resulting in these sorrows. Even after undergoing unbearable grief a lot of karma still remains to be experienced.
In order to permanently destroy these sorrows, the grace of the Lord is a must! Even if He showers His grace, who will take on the load of your past karma (destiny) and exhaust it? You alone need to experience and exhaust your karma.
There is a telugu proverb which states that dogs began to bark after the dacoits ran away with the loot. In this case, who is at fault? Are the dogs at fault? Is it a dereliction of duty of the dogs or is it of the master who has pampered the dogs? Did the dogs notice the dacoits? Were the dacoits aware of the presence of these dogs? What gave the dacoits the confidence to barge into the home that was guarded by dogs? What made the dogs neglect their duty? Why did the dogs bark after the dacoits escaped? What is the spiritual angle is being explained in this proverb? Why did the dogs choose to wake the master after the dacoits had escaped? Will the lost objects be recovered now that they decided to bark? What was the need of rearing dogs? Why did he undergo so many troubles to nurture them?
In this there is a conflict of dharma (dharma sankata). People use this proverb very casually to tease a person to help who arrives after all the arrangements have been completed. We casually remark ‘the dogs barked after the dacoits escaped, similarly you have come after work is complete.’ It is wrong to speak so lightly and make such comparisons.
Assume an earthquake has damaged the entire locality. It is wrong to rush indoors immediately after the cessation of the earthquake assuming the situation is normal. When earthquake strikes, we are alert to run out of the house and save our lives. If we return back assuming situation is normal we will be caught in the after-effects. The earthquake would have damaged the building structure and weakened it. This weak building is bound to collapse with the slightest tremor! When the building collapses a few hours after the main earthquake, people are puzzled, ‘What is it? During the earthquake, my house remained intact. Now after the earthquake stopped my house collapsed’.
The pertinent question is why was the person in a hurry to run back home? When he had the sense that earthquake is dangerous, does he not have the patience to wait until all its after-effects cease? What is it that is of highest importance? Life-force. To save your life, you ran out of the house. Now in the happiness that your building is undamaged you ran back inside. There are some who try to gather all their valuable even when they are rushing to save their lives. They wait to pack their suitcases, their vanity kit, their passports and so on. What is the use of all this luggage when life itself is in danger? As they are packing the building collapses and they are trapped within.
Instead we are talking about the person who sensibly ran out of the house without waiting to pack his valuables upon realizing that there is an earthquake. This is appreciable. Now within 10 minutes after the earthquake stops he rushes into his home. Why? What was the hurry? His destiny caused him to run back.
Even in the proverb above, the master’s destiny (karma) caused the dogs to be in deep slumber while the dacoits were looting the house. Assume that after fleeing from the house, the dacoits decide to murder the master and steal the remaining ornaments on his body. They return confident that the dogs will not harm them. Unfortunately for them, the dogs are now wide awake and hence bark loudly. What should be the feelings of the master? Here the master should realise that although the dogs failed to protect his wealth they protected his life. Therefore a wise master will never punish the dogs. After all they saved his life. He realises that there was a significant reason for them to not bark when the dacoits were initially looting the house.
For all the temporary sorrows only temporary relief is available. There is no permanent remedy for temporary sorrows.
nārāyaṇāya namah