{"id":52216,"date":"2025-11-28T01:38:44","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T20:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/?p=52216"},"modified":"2025-11-27T07:51:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T02:21:11","slug":"youll-never-be-happy-in-a-materialistic-way-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/youll-never-be-happy-in-a-materialistic-way-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"You\u2019ll Never Be Happy in a Materialistic Way of Life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/vishnujana-sw-cambridge-commons-august-1970-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-52217 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/vishnujana-sw-cambridge-commons-august-1970-1-300x207.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"207\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/vishnujana-sw-cambridge-commons-august-1970-1-300x207.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/vishnujana-sw-cambridge-commons-august-1970-1.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h1><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">Should We Suffer While Krishna Enjoys?<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\"><em>Question:<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">We are advised in Krishna Consciousness that we should not please the senses and \/ or have desires but rather please the senses of Krishna and \/ or his desires.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">Please, could you tell us in detail what Krishna&#8217;s desires are and how could we please them as well as how can we satisfy Krishna&#8217;s senses in particular?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\"><em>Answer<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">I\u2019ll now touch only one of the points you are asking me about because it is fundamental.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">The idea that we should not gratify our senses and that we should act only to gratify the senses of Krishna is incorrect.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">But let\u2019s give some order to the topic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">1) We should not try to gratify our \u201cmaterial\u201d senses, because it is hopeless. You\u2019ll never be happy in a materialistic way of life. It\u2019s unnatural and it is an unattainable venture. The more you try, the more you get entangled in a temporary, illusory, and dissatisfying life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">2) We should try to purify our lives so that our senses (and mind, and intelligence, the whole of us) become purified and go back to their original status. Ceto darpana marjanam. Caitanya Mahaprabhu could not have been clearer on this. By hari-nama sankirtana we purify ourselves.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">At the end, we\u2019ll find our senses completely spiritual, as they were at the origin; a complete reset.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">3) Once our senses are purified, then we discover that our nature \u201cis\u201d to enjoy, but not directly, without (Consider adding the word \u2018rendering\u2019 or \u2018offering\u2019) loving service to Krishna and His associates.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">When we are doing that, we are enjoying our senses.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">4) If we have say that in order to advance in spiritual life one should have to live a life of sadness and frustration while Krishna is dancing with the Gopis, playing ball with the Gopas, and eating wonderful prasadam prepared by Srimati Radharani and mother Yasoda, it gives the idea of a sadistic and profiteer God that likes watching His children crying in pain.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">It is not so.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">The truth is that in our pure state not only do we enjoy, but our pleasure is even superior to that of Krishna&#8217;s, because serving is higher than being served.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">This is so true that Krishna comes in this material world as the best of devotees, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu; and we know something about his ecstasies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">Going to the reality of our everyday life, nobody says we should not find happiness in Krishna Consciousness.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">We should, of course.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">We\u2019ll never become Krishna Conscious if we are not happy offering loving service to Krishna and His devotees. The process of Krishna Consciousness is beautiful and it\u2019s a great pleasure to be and live as a devotee.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">We have to learn the science of how to become happy being a devotee by avoiding what is unfavorable and embracing what is favorable. There are so many things that could be said about the details of our day-to-day life, but we see that pure devotees are the happiest people in the world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">To begin with, please read the verses 2 and 3 of Upadesamrita (Nectar of Instruction), and you\u2019ll find a mine of information about what to do and what not to do.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">This is a section of the book \u201cA Sidelong Glance\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">To buy the complete book,<\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kadachaeditions.com\/art\/a-sidelong-glance-english\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">click above<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Should We Suffer While Krishna Enjoys? &nbsp; &nbsp; Question: We are advised in Krishna Consciousness that we should not please the senses and \/ or have desires but rather please the senses of Krishna and \/ &hellip; <a class=\"kt-excerpt-readmore\" href=\"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/youll-never-be-happy-in-a-materialistic-way-of-life\/\" aria-label=\"You\u2019ll Never Be Happy in a Materialistic Way of Life\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":115,"featured_media":52217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,189],"tags":[229],"class_list":["post-52216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","category-kadacha-eng","tag-a-sidelong-glance-eng"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-24 06:07:11","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/115"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}