Whatever We Desire

Birth after birth, body after body, Krsna grants whatever we desire. Thus the body we take is created according to our desire. As long as we desire a material body, Krsna will give us one. "The living entity in the material world carries his different conceptions of life, as the air carries aromas. Thus does he take one kind of body and again quit it to take another. The living entity, thus taking another gross body, obtains a particular type of ear, sense of touch, tongue, and nose, centered about the mind. He thus enjoys a particular set of sense objects." (Bg. 15.8-9) Krsna gives us our body, and then He accompanies us inside of it, but He is not responsible for how we utilize it. We get a particular body and various circumstances of birth according to our actions (karma) and what we are thinking of at the time of death-in other words, according to our own desires. "Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods; those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings; and those who worship Me will live with Me." (Bg. 9.25)

By thus understanding that God grants material facilities according to our desires, we can understand that our suffering in the material world is due to us, not the Lord. The Lord is neutral to all His children, giving us whatever we want. God never interferes with the desires of the living entities, for if He did, what would be the meaning of the minute independence He has given us, and where would there be any possibility for love? In ignorance we think we are God or that we can enjoy independently of God, and so the Lord gives us this material body and material world. But the Lord is hoping that we will give up our material desires and come to Him. In the material world, the state provides both prisons and universities. Although wishing for everyone to enter the universities, it provides the prisons because it knows that some individuals will misuse their freedom and thereby merit entrance into the prisons. Similarly, God is kind even to the demons. As stated in the Vedanta-sūtra, "The Lord neither hates nor likes anyone, though He appears to." Atheistic persons who are envious of God and wish to forget Him undoubtedly suffer, but even this suffering is God's kindness. Since demons are desirous of forgetting Krsna, Krsna simply gives them the particular birth and body just suited to their forgetting Him, which is actually what they want: "These do I put into the ocean of material existence, into various demoniac species of life. Gaining repeated birth among the species of demoniac life, such persons can never approach Me, and gradually they sink down to the most abominable position of existence." Such an abominable position is actually the desire of the demons and it is the mercy of God that such a desire is fulfilled. Desire is a subtle form of conditioning. The demon initially puts himself into demoniac conditions by misusing his independence, and only then does the long chain of material actions and reactions begin. Falsely identifying with such temporary situations, the bewildered demon wrongly blames the Lord for his condition, which in actuality is due to his own desire: "The living entity is the cause of the various sufferings and enjoyments in this world." (Bg. 13.20)