Miseries of Material Life.

Not only is the feverish pursuit of pleasure unnecessary, but there is no possibility that anyone can attain lasting happiness in this world, no matter how elaborately one arranges for his comfort. Material life inflicts so many miseries upon us that what we call happiness is really just temporary relief from the continual onslaught of natural miseries. Chiefly these are the miseries of death, disease, old age and rebirth. Also, our very bodies inflict pain upon us, other living entities inflict pain upon us, and so also do natural disasters such as droughts, earthquakes and floods. Whatever happiness we think we have attained is soon ripped away by one of these miseries. Even if one claims to be happy in spite of the miseries, he is still not allowed to stay and enjoy his happiness-mixed-with-misery, for death forces him to leave the scene.

A relevant story concerns the early life of Lord Buddha. Raised as a prince, he led a sheltered existence and never knew anything of the world outside the palace grounds. On the very first day he ventured outside the palace, however, he met a man suffering from a terrible disease. He asked the man what was wrong, and the man replied, "I am afflicted by disease."

"Will I also be afflicted by disease?" asked the young Buddha.

"Yes," the man replied. "Everyone eventually becomes diseased,"

Next he met a man debilitated by old age. The sheltered young prince had never seen such an aged person. "What is the matter with you?" he asked.

"I am simply old," the man replied.

"Will I also grow old?"

"Yes, of course."

Finally, Lord Buddha saw a dead body. He was told that this was death and that it would happen to him also. But rather than accept what he saw as "the hard knocks of life," the Buddha entered meditation to understand how one could escape from such suffering.

The human being is unique among the living species because he can seriously inquire: "Why do I have to suffer? Who am I that am subject to so many miseries? How can I get free?" The solution is not to increase material pleasures in a temporary world always filled with misery. But what is the solution? His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada once asked some of his disciples, "If it were possible to live a life of eternal happiness with an endless variety of enjoyment-singing, dancing, loving and eating-wouldn't everyone want that?"

One disciple answered, "But Srila Prabhupada, people don't believe that such a life is possible."

"Never mind that," Srila Prabhupada said. "Whether it is possible we can discuss at another time. But if there could be such a life, would you not find it desirable?"

Unending happiness. That is what King Rsabha referred to as brahma-saukhyam, unlimited bliss. Love, affection, enjoyment with friends eternally. Yes, it would be very desirable. But does such happiness exist?

Before we can understand brahma-saukhyam, eternal happiness, we first have to clear away one almost universal misconception. That misconception is the idea that the individual self is the same as the material body. When Rsabha said, "Become purified and then experience brahma-saukhyam," that "purified" involves realizing, "I am not this body. In my real identity, I am a spiritual soul." If one thinks that he is the body and so thinks in terms of material designations-"I am an American," "I am a black man," "a Jew," "a woman" and so on-he remains in ignorance. One should understand that the self is beyond the mind and body.