 | Back To Godhead Vol 03 P.03, 1956
|
Activities of the miscreant Ashuras or Atheist are described in the Bhagwat Geeta [Bg. 16.4-5] as follows:—
Wordings
Dambha, Darpa, Abhimana, Cha, Krodha, Parushyam, Eba, Cha, Ajnanam, Cha, Abhijatasya, Partha, Sampadam, Ashurim.
Daibi, Sampat, Bimokshya, Nirbandha, Ashurim, Mata, Ma, Sucha, Sampadam, Daibim, Ashi, Pandaba.
Synonyms
Dambha=Vanity, Darpa=Pride, Abhimana=False sense, Cha=and, Krodha=Anger, Parushyam=Rudeness, Eba=Also, Cha=and, Ajnanam=Ignorance, Cha=and, Abhijatasya=one born in, Partha=Oh the son of Prithu, Sampadam=possessions, Ashurim=Atheistic.
Daibi=Godly, Sampat=Possessions, Bimokshaya=Leading to liberation, Nibandha=Leading to bondage, Ashurim=Atheistic, Mata=Ascertained, Ma=Do not, Sucha=Be disturbed, Sampadam=Possession, Daibim=Godly, Abhijata=Born in, Ashi=are, Pandaba=Oh the son of Pandu.
Translation
Oh the son of Prithu! The atheistic possessions of the Atheist are vanity, pride, false-sense, anger, rudeness and ignorance.
Know it from Me that the Godly possessions are leading to liberation while the possessions of the atheist are leading to bondage. But oh the son of Pandu, you are certainly born in the qualities of the faithful.
Purport
The miscreant atheist or the Naradhama class of men are vainly proud of their possessions like religiosity, wealth, etc. Such men do know very little of the meaning of religion and yet they post themselves as men of higher religious consciousness. Some of them dream of creating a Ram Rajya or the Kingdom of God without any obedience to the Personality of Godhead.
Similarly Ravana wanted to possess Sita the potential Kingdom of Rama. Without Rama. He wanted the possession of Sita the energy of Rama minus Rama the Supreme Lord without knowing that Rama and Sita are never to be separated. In such a mode of ignorance he posed himself as a great devotee of Lord Shiva (a show of religiosity). This is called vanity or false sense of religiosity.
Such false sense of religiosity makes the atheist very proud of his so-called wealth and education. A learned faithful devotee of the Personality of Godhead is never proud of his education and importance.
Due to such pride and vanity, the atheist will look for receiving respects, artificially, which he cannot command. Respects cannot be demanded but it is commanded. The atheist is always keen after material honour for his false prestige. When such hankerings are not fulfilled, he becomes angry and behaves very rudely with other respectable men.
The atheist is always keen for dethroning the Lord and sit on His seat (?) without knowing that the Supreme Lord can never be dethroned by any powerful attempt of an Ashura like Ravana. His only business is to kill the godly consciousness of human being by force which is a sign of ignorance. Such sense of denying the existence of Godhead, leads a living being to be entangled in the laws of physical nature. This means continuance of an existence of threefold miseries.
Atheistic temperament of human being is an artificial covering of the pure spirit soul and it is formed by unholy association. By culture of knowledge and by good association of devotees, one is able to give up his atheistic tendency, which procedure is always faultless. This faultless quality can be attained by culture of faithful performances of charity, restraint, sacrifice for God’s service, penances, simplicity, studies of the Vedas, non-violence, truthfulness, calmness, renunciation, peace, not to speak ill of others, mercy, non-hankering, meekness, intelligence, cleanliness, prudence, strength of mind, forgiveness, devotion, etc.
A person who takes his birth in an auspicious moment by dint of his past pious actions does attain such good qualities leading to the path of liberation; but even if a person by dint of his past misdeeds has taken birth in an inauspicious moment—he can rectify his bad luck by good association of the transcendental devotees and thereby taking to the practice of devotional services. Back to Godhead is giving you such good chances. It contains the potent sound of the liberated souls.
All the above mentioned qualities are means to an ultimate end. They are not the end by themselves. The ultimate end is attainment of devotional service of the Supreme Lord in place of illusory service of the external energy. This is our eternal engagement as against the temporary life. Arjuna is assured of his ultimate goal because he was engaged in the service of the Lord. The Lord desired the war of Kurukshetra and to execute it was to serve the Lord. Arjuna was therefore immune from the reaction of the necessary cruel acts of a battlefield as a matter of course.
The atheist being devoid of this transcendental service, he does not know how to apply different energies at different place.
Leave a Reply