The Ultimate Purpose

Because sensory pleasures are all temporary, in the end they leave nothing but ashes in the mouth. They are like poison, and so the wise have nothing to do with them. And here it is clearly stated that a person who is liberated, and in Krsna consciousness, has no desire for them. It is not simply that he refrains from them, but he has actually lost the taste. That means that he is actually drinking of the pleasure of Krsna. It is something like being asked to eat a second time after being fully satisfied by good food. Sri Yamunacarya, a great devotee in Krsna consciousness, said: "Since I have been engaged in the transcendental loving service of Krsna, realizing every new encouragement in the matter of self pleasure, whenever I think of sex pleasure I spit at the thought, and my mouth becomes bitter with distaste." A person in Krsna consciousness is so absorbed in Krsna that he has no taste for sense pleasure, not even the highest form of material pleasure, sex pleasure. Actually, the whole world is moving under the spell of this sex motivation, but a person in Krsna consciousness is free from such bondage and works with greater vigor as a result. This is the test of spiritual progress, namely, how much am I becoming detached from matter, or how much taste do I have for sense pleasure? Just as the test for a man's recovery from disease is the gradual decrease in fever, so when the fever of sense gratification goes down one knows well that he is making advancement. So as long as I am still feeling some desire for material sense pleasure, I should know well that I am not yet fully situated in that transcendental position of drinking freely from the well of Krsna, for when that day comes, certainly I will spit at the highest conceptions of this material world.

In the Padma Purana it is stated, "My dear sons there is no reason to work very hard for sense pleasures in this life. Such pleasures are available to the stool-eaters [hogs]. Rather, you should undergo penance in this life whereby your existence will be purified, and as a result you will be able to enjoy unlimited transcendental bliss." So by this process of purification, by acting in Krsna consciousness, one comes to the position of the healthy life, of actually feeling the pleasure of Krsna, or transcendental bliss. This process of purification, or action in Krsna consciousness, is at once both the path and the goal. As Krsna says in the last verse of the chapter, "The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries." No one is free from the pangs of material miseries, just as no one is free from the demands of the senses, but by knowing Krsna as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifice and austerities, one can engage in the transcendental loving service of Krsna and thereby be completely released.