Page 9 - Ananda Mela 2016- Joyful Festival of India

wealthy and enjoy all the ameni es of a prosperous life. Yet, the above-
men oned problems of life are s ll present. Economic development and ma-
terial comforts cannot solve the real problems of life nor can they protect us
from the suffering caused by family, social, na onal or interna onal tragedies
that may occur.

In spite of all the precau ons we take to avoid suffering, s ll we inevitably
encounter it in the most unexpected ways. Thus it is our ignorance to think
that our existence in this material world is meant for sensual enjoyment and
self-indulgence. The reality is that this material world is a miserable place
where there are dangers at every step. We are con nually misled to believe
that we can find the ways and means to live happily by making material ar-
rangements such as increasing wealth, developing a network of influen al
friends and rela ves, and many other strategies to avoid suffering. This is the
wishful thinking of a person living in a delusional state of mind.

All such plans to avoid suffering are des ned to fail because the material
body of the living en ty is a place of misery. The body is suscep ble at all

mes to suffering the threefold miseries: those caused by the body itself,
other bodies and natural calami es. The material miseries and suffering are
omnipresent everywhere in the universe.

How to solve the problem of suffering and misery

For every birth we take in the material world we are awarded a par cular
type of body out of the 8.4 million species of life according to our previous
life’s karma (good and bad) and the unfulfilled material desires we have at
the moment of death. Once placed in a body, we enjoy or suffer feelings of
happiness and distress. Our original existence was in the spiritual world
wherein we misused our limited free will by desiring to enjoy independent of
God. We wanted to emulate God by a emp ng to lord it over the material
nature and exploit it for our selfish sense gra fica on. Because of this desire
for self-indulgence we have been placed in a material body that is subject to
the influence of the modes of nature - goodness, passion and ignorance.

These modes condi on us to repeated birth and death.

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