Page 40 - Metaphysical questions of life

strength, health and thwart a empts at spiritual realiza on. Too many
material possessions distract the mind from the focus on spiritual en-
lightenment. Intelligently downsizing is a great virtue if one seeks to
live a vibrant spiritual life.

Another symptom of the distorted material concep on of life is the
constant distress and bewilderment caused by the duality of material
experiences of heat and cold, riches and poverty, happiness and dis-
tress, fame and infamy, love and hate. Lord Krishna men ons this:
icchā‐dveṣa‐samu hena / dvandva‐mohena bhārata
sarva‐bhūtāni sammohaṁ / sarge yān paran‐tapa

“O scion of Bharata, O conqueror of the foe, all living en es are born
into delusion, bewildered by duali es arisen from desire and hate.” (Bg
7.27)

The living en ty that rejects subordina on to God (Lord Krishna) and
rebels against the Lord acts in a deluded state of mind by separa ng
himself from the Lord and knowledge of Him. He then becomes con-
trolled by the illusory energy of the Lord, maya, loses the power to un-
derstand God, becomes envious of God and develops uncontrollable
desires for material domina on and hatred when frustrated. The duali-
ty of desire and hate and other experiences of duality like honor and
dishonor, misery and happiness, man and woman, good and evil keeps
him in a deluded state of mind and prone to self-destruc ve behavior.

The Srimad Bhagavatam (10.84.13) describes the material concep on
of life in vivid terms:

“yasyātma‐buddhiḥ kuṇape tri‐dhātuke / sva‐dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhau‐
ma ijya‐dhīḥ
yat‐ rtha‐buddhiḥ salile na karhicij / janeṣv abhijñeṣu sa eva go‐
kharaḥ”

“One who iden fies his self as the inert body composed of mucus, bile
and air, who assumes his wife and family are permanently his own,
who thinks an earthen image or the land of his birth is worshipable, or
who sees a place of pilgrimage as merely the water there, but who nev-

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