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Sunday, August 09, 2009

Games People Play

A little about purusa and prakrti:

Jiva or the living entities (that's us), comprise the superior energy of the Lord, also known as superior prakrti (Bg 7.5) labeled alongside the Lord's inferior (unconscious) prakrti (material nature). Both these prakrtis, the superior prakrti, jiva, and the inferior prakrti, dull matter, are meant to serve the energetic or the purusa, the enjoyer, namely Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Yet problems arise when, due to forgetfulness of our actual relationship with Him, the jivas want to become purusas, enjoyers, just like Krsna, thus imitating his position.

Prabhupada stated, "Here in this material world everyone is enjoyer....Not only the man thinks 'I shall enjoy the woman,' the woman thinks, 'I shall enjoy the man.' The spirit is now to become enjoyer, Therefore sometimes the living entity is described as purusa. Actually every living entity is prakrti. Prakrti means enjoyable. So everyone is to be enjoyable, by Krishna. But thinking, 'I am enjoyer.' That is mäyä." SB 6.1.47 lecture, Detroit, 6/13/76

So when everyone wants to be the enjoyer, playing games for exploiting one another for sense gratification, problems arise. There is fighting and competition.

THE ILLUSION
Actually, there can be only one enjoyer, Lord Krishna (Bg 9.24), the center and source of all existences, but He created the world in this way in order to fulfill the desires of the naughty living entities, giving them the facility to play God. This is comparable to when a child demands the moon, which is impossible to realistically obtain, but his intelligent mother hands him a mirror by which he may hold a reflection of the moon. "The Lord is the only enjoyer, and all others are enjoyed. The living beings are predominated enjoyers. But the eternally conditioned souls, forgetful of this constitutional position, have strong aspirations to enjoy. The chance to enjoy matter is given to the conditioned souls in the material world, and side by side they are given the chance to understand their real constitutional position. Those fortunate living entities who catch the truth and surrender unto the lotus feet of Väsudeva after many, many births in the material world join the eternally liberated souls and thus are allowed to enter into the kingdom of Godhead."-- SB 1.3.1p

Surrendering to the Lord involves following the design of the Lord. Thus the terms purusa and prakrti are sometimes used also to describe the relationship between man and woman. Devahuti inquired from Kapiladeva "as to the relationship between man and woman and between matter and spirit" (SB 3.25.11). In this regard, man is playing the part of purusa and woman is playing the subordinate part of prakrti. If this understanding is observed there may be harmony, otherwise not. Prabhupada gave the example when it is not:
"Every one of us, we are thinking as purusa, the enjoyer. That is the fight going on. Just like in Western countries the prakrtis--the woman--they are also fighting: 'We must have equal rights with the man.' So this is going on." SB 5.5.2 lecture, 4/13/75, Hyderabad

"We are not purusa. But we are trying to become purusa. Suppose a woman artificially wants to become man. That is very troublesome." -Bg 4.8 lecture, 3/28/74, Bombay

Lord Kapila instructed Devahuti to follow the imperishable path of bhakti yoga or devotional service, by which we can all come to sanity, understanding our actual position as subordinate to the Lord's will, as prakrti instead of purusa. Thus Prabhupada states, "The Krishna consciousness movement is so beneficial that it can very easily counteract the contamination of material nature, which results from one's possessing a material body. Bhagavad-gitä therefore teaches, in the very beginning, that whether one is a man or a woman, one must know that he or she is not the body but a spiritual soul...The soul is sometimes described as purusa because whether one is dressed as a man or a woman, one is inclined to enjoy this material world. One who has this spirit of enjoyment is described as purusa. Whether one is a man or a woman, he is not interested in serving others; everyone is interested in satisfying his or her own senses. Krishna consciousness, however, provides first-class training for a man or a woman. A man should be trained to be a first-class devotee of Lord Krishna, and a woman should be trained to be a very chaste follower of her husband. That will make the lives of both of them happy." --SB 6.18.42p

PLAYING THE PART
Thus in the game called material life, the man is externally given the position of purusa and woman plays the subordinate position of prakrti while internally both should be in the mood of service, subordinate to the order of the Supreme Purusa, Lord Krsna. In other words, we may be pure spirit soul, transcendental, but until we are fully convinced of that fact and steady in our determination, we need to play our roles assigned by Krishna by patiently executing our prescribed duties.

Furthermore, Bhagavad gita 3.10-12 describes the cooperation between man and demigods. When the demigods are pleased by performance of sacrifice, one obtains all necessities. Similarly, there must be a mood of cooperation between husband and wife. Wife performs various services to please her husband and the husband responds by supplying her all necessities of life- apartment, saris, ornaments, food, children, etc. A peaceful life thus ensues, favorable for the purpose of self-realization.

PATIENCE
Premature renunciation cannot help us. Lord Caitanya used Ragunatha dasa as an example when he advised him:

"“Be patient... Don’t be a crazy person. By and by you will be able to cross the ocean of material existence." -CC Madhya 16.237

And Srila Prabhupada further commented:
"Everyone is trying to get out of the ocean of material existence. One cannot immediately reach the coast, but if one endeavors, he can cross the ocean by Sri Caitanya Mahäprabhu’s mercy. One may be very eager to cross this ocean, but he cannot attain success by acting like a madman. He must swim over the ocean very patiently and intelligently under the instructions of Sri Caitanya Mahäprabhu or His representative. Then, one day, he will reach the shore and return home, back to Godhead." -CC Madhya 16.237p

Bhagavad gita 5.11 also states, "The yogis, abandoning attachment, act with body, mind, intelligence and even with the senses, only for the purpose of purification."

And Prabhupada quotes Rupa Goswami: "A person acting in Krishna consciousness (or, in other words, in the service of Krishna) with his body, mind, intelligence and words is a liberated person even within the material world, although he may be engaged in many so-called material activities." --Bg 5.11p

Gradually we come to full realization of this, then there is no longer duty (Bg 3.17-18) "One is no longer obliged to perform any prescribed duty save and except activities in Krishna consciousness." -Bg 3.18

The heart, once attracted to all attractive, all merciful Lord Krishna, plays a different game.