always defeated

Another name for salvation is apavarga. Apavarga is the opposite of pavarga, or the various miserable conditions of material existence. Pavarga consists of the combinations of five letters: pa, pha, ba, bha, and ma. These letters are the first letters of the words for five different conditions as described below. The first letter, pa, comes from the word parabhava, which means "defeat." In this material struggle for existence, we are simply meeting defeat. Actually, we have to conquer birth, death, disease and old age, and because there is no possibility of overcoming all these miserable conditions, due to the illusion of maya, we are simply meeting with parabhava, or defeat. The next letter, pha, is taken from the word phenila. Phenila is the foam which is found on the mouth when one is very tired (as is commonly observed with horses). The letter ba comes from the word bandha, or bondage. Bha is taken from the word bhiti, or fearfulness. Ma is taken from the word mrti, or death. So the word pavarga signifies our struggle for existence and our meeting with defeat, exhaustion, bondage, fearfulness and, at last, death. Apavarga means that which can nullify all of these material conditions. Krsna is said to be the giver of apavarga, the path of liberation.    (More...)