Even a lion, although king of the beasts, must still look for its own prey in the jungle. It is said, na hi suptasya simhasya pravisanti mukhe mrgah. A lion cannot think, “Since I am king of the forest, let me sleep, and all the animals will come into my mouth.” That is not possible. “No, sir. Although you are a lion, you must go search for your food.” Thus even the lion, although so powerful, must endeavor with great difficulty to find another animal to eat, and similarly everyone in this material world must work with great difficulty to continue his life. Thus pa indicates parisrama, labor, and pha is for phena, which means “foam.” While working very hard a horse foams at the mouth, and similarly human beings must also work hard in this way. Such hard labor, however, is vyartha, futile, and this is what is indicated by the letter ba. And bha indicates bhaya, fear. Despite working so hard, one is always somewhat fearful that things will not be done as he desires. The nature of the body is that it involves eating, sleeping, mating, and fearing (ahara-nidra-bhaya-maithunam ca). Although one may eat very nicely, one must consider whether one is overeating, so that he will not fall sick. Thus even eating involves fear. A bird, while eating, looks this way and that way, fearful that some enemy may be coming. And for all living entities, everything finally ends in death, mrtyu, and this is what is indicated by the letter ma. Thus pavarga and its component letters pa, pha, ba, bha, and ma indicate hard labor (parisrama), foam at the mouth (phena), frustration (vyartha), fear (bhaya), and death (mrtyu). This is called pavarga, the path of material tribulation. Apavarga, however, indicates just the opposite – the spiritual world, where there is no labor, no foam, no frustration, no fear, and no death. Thus Krsna is known as anapavarga-virya, for He shows the path to the spiritual world. Why should one suffer from these five kinds of tribulation? Because one has a material body. As soon as one accepts a material body – whether it is that of a president or a common man, a demigod or a human being, an insect or a Brahma – one must go through these tribulations. This is called material existence. Krsna comes, therefore, to show one the path to apavarga, freedom from these tribulations, and when Krsna shows this path, we should accept it. Krsna says very clearly, “Surrender unto Me. I shall give you apavarga.” Aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami: “I shall give you protection.” And Krsna has the power with which to fulfill this guarantee.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 05:15:57 +0000
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