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Srila Prabhupada answers a question about LSD supposedly being the means to attain liberation from all material attachments in a conversation with an American poet Allen Ginsberg. Allen Ginsberg: Do you remember a man named Richard Alpert? Prabhupada: Huh? Allen Ginsberg: Do you remember of a man named Richard Alpert? He used to work with Timothy Leary... Prabhupada: Ah. Allen Ginsberg: ...in Harvard many years ago. And then he went to India and found a teacher, and is now a disciple of Hanumanji, or a devotee of Hanuman. And he said that... We were talking about maya and the present condition of America... Prabhupada: Have some fruits? Allen Ginsberg: In a while. Well, we can talk as... Prabhupada: Accha. Allen Ginsberg: Bite your food. I have that question I wanted to asked. Are you tired? Prabhupada: No, no. I can talk with you whole night. [laughs] Allen Ginsberg: So he said that his teacher in India told him that LSD was a Christ of the Kali-yuga for Westerners. Prabhupada: Christ? Allen Ginsberg: ...of the Kali-yuga for Westerners, in that, as the Kali-yuga got more intense, as attachment got thicker and thicker, that also salvation would have to be easier and easier, and that... Prabhupada: [aside:] [Bengali] Allen Ginsberg: Namaste. [to Indian lady] Prabhupada: She is a Bengali lady recently come from London. Allen Ginsberg: Ah! Prabhupada: Lekha. [Bengali] Indian lady: [Bengali] Prabhupada: [Bengali] Allen Ginsberg: So, as the Kali-yuga became more intense and as attachment became deeper and more confusing... Prabhupada: Attachment for? Allen Ginsberg: ...that salvation would also have to become easier and easier in the Kali-yuga. Prabhupada: That is very nice statement that in the Kali-yuga salvation is very easier. That is the version of Srimad-Bhagavatam also. But that process is this kirtana, not LSD. Allen Ginsberg: Well, it was... The reasoning there was that for those who would only accept salvation in purely material form, in chemical form finally, and completely material form... Prabhupada: Hmm. So where is the salvation when there is... Allen Ginsberg: ...that Krsna had the humor to emerge as a pill. Prabhupada: No, the thing is that when it is material form... Allen Ginsberg: Yes? Prabhupada: ...then where it is salvation? It is illusion. Allen Ginsberg: Well, the subjective effect is to cut... Prabhupada: No. Allen Ginsberg: ...attachment during the... Prabhupada: Well, if you have got attachments for something material, then where is the cut-off of attachment? LSD is a material chemical. Allen Ginsberg: Yeah. Prabhupada: So if you have to take shelter of LSD, then you take, I mean to say, help from the matters. So that is... How you can... How you are free from matter? Allen Ginsberg: Well, the subjective experience is, while in the state of intoxication of LSD, also realizing that LSD is a material pill, and that it does not really matter... Prabhupada: So that is risky. That is risky. Allen Ginsberg: Yeah. Now so, if LSD is a material attachment, which it is, I think, then is not the sound, sabda, also a material attachment? Prabhupada: No, sabda is spiritual. Originally, just like in Bible there is "Let there be creation," this sound, this spiritual sound. Creation. Creation was not there. The sound produced the creation. Therefore, sound is originally spiritual, and through the sound... Sound -- from sound, sky develops; from sky, air develop; from air, fire develop; fire, water develop; from water, land develop. (Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg – May 11, 1969, Columbus)

Psychedelic Drugs and Krishna Consciousness This is an article on the topic of psychedelic drugs we have found in the old edition of the Back To Godhead magazine (1967 #7) written by Hayagriva Dasa. Enjoy! The following is a letter received by the editors which pretty well speaks for itself: Dear Editors, In your December 1st issue of Back to Godhead, you ask for comments by your readers when they feel it necessary, and I would herewith like to offer a humble observation. Far too far often I find your philosophy hyper-critical of LSD and other psychedelic chemicals. Speaking personally, I would be much more likely to join in your celebration if it were not for the fact that I do not wish to be made to feel guilty about my past ingestions of these mysterious sacraments. Furthermore, in all honesty, I am sure you will admit that the majority of people now deeply interested in Krishna Consciousness would never have been so were it not for the spark of spiritual curiosity ignited in them by their LSD sessions. This is an age of machine misery and computerized death, and any avenue of spiritual seeking which the American people seek to trod is far better than its alternative. Don't choke yourself off by participating in an undeclared war against acid and grass. People will come to you without this. No doubt more than you are presently receiving. Let the beauty of your quest speak eloquently for itself, and let all people you reach be proud of their own humble search. Too many of us have been guilty for too long, and we are tired of it. I hope I have made my point. I think it is an important one. Peace and love, San Francisco, California. First of all, we would like to express our gratitude and appreciation for this sincere and well-put comment. We've withheld the writer's name rather than chance hurting him in some way. In response to his questions, Hayagriva Das (Howard Wheeler) has written the following essay entitled, "Psychedelic Drugs and Krishna Consciousness," which will also be published as a separate pamphlet. We hope this question and answer will clarify our position for all who are in doubt of it. We will be glad to hear more and more from our readers on this subject. And now, Mr. Wheeler's essay: Due to the recent psychedelic drug movement in America, many people have come to us and asked about the Society's stand regarding LSD, gunga (marijuana), peyote, mescaline, psylocibin, yage, etc. in reply, we would like to say that as a society, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness has nothing to do with drugs or drug intoxication. We are neither for nor against the use or repression of such drugs. We are not qualified to judge positive or negative effects, and therefore our policy is one of non-interference, especially in regards to legalization, administration, etc. Believing that people naturally do what they like, we feel that it is not our mission to condemn the actions of others but to suggest, in a positive way, their adopting Krishna Consciousness and chanting the Maha (Hare Krishna) Mantra. Drugs and drug movements are not our concern. We are interested in the eternal Reality, which is Krishna, the Supreme Lord. However, members of the Society and those seriously pursuing Krishna Consciousness, following the Vedic Way and the injunctions of the Spiritual Master (guru) Swami A.C Bhaktivedanta, do not take intoxicants such as alcohol and drugs. Our authorities are the Spiritual Master, the Bhagavad Gita, and, of course, Lord Krishna -- and none of these recommend the use of drugs for spiritual development. There are a number of reasons we do not encourage psychedelic drugs for those who are interested in pursuing Krishna Consciousness. 1. We believe that our natural state of consciousness is one of ecstasy. Therefore it is not necessary to attempt to alter our consciousness by a chemical process. In actuality, we are eternally in samadhi, in union with God, being His eternal parts and parcels. This is our constitutional position-it is not a position brought about by fasting, vigils, drugs, self-mutilation, etc. the position is already there. If we do not see our position or understand it, it is due to our ignorance. They way our of ignorance is Krishna Consciousness, which helps us to attain our natural unconditional state of freedom and bliss (Sat-Chit-Ananda) in Krishna. To the best of our knowledge, drugs only construct a reliance on a material substance and lead to bondage to that substance -- therefore, for our purposes, they do not lead to unconditional freedom, but to spiritual regression. 2. Drugs, as an artificial means of exhilaration, are not new. Psychedelics in the form of peyote and "magic" mushrooms have been known to American Indians for hundreds of years, and thousands of years ago, "soma" and similar drugs are recorded to have been used in India. Over the centuries, psychedelics have been known to and rejected by great saints, mystics, sages, incarnations and spiritual leaders. 130 years ago, the American transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson was also aware of attempts to attain cosmic consciousness by abortive, artificial means: It is a secret which every intellectual man quickly learns, that beyond the energy of his possessed and conscious intellect he is capable of a new energy (as of an intellect doubled on itself) by abandonment to the nature of things; that beside his privacy of power as an individual man, there is a great public power on which he can draw, by unlocking his human doors, and suffering the ethereal tides to roll and circulate through him; then he is caught up into the life of the Universe....For if in any manner we can stimulate this instinct, new passages are opened for us into nature; the mind flows into and through things hardest and highest, and the metamorphosis is possible...This is the reason why bards love wine, mead, narcotics, coffee, tea, opium, the fumes of sandalwood and tobacco, or whatever other procurers of animal exhilaration. All men avail themselves of such means as they can, to add this extraordinary power to their normal powers. (From Essays, 2nd Series, "The Poet.") However, Emerson makes it clear that he does not condone such artificial means, which he considers to be used by an inferior type of man. He also deems the results to be imperfect and temporary, for in actuality deterioration and dissipation are provoked by reliance on external stimuli. Never can any advantage be taken of nature by a trick. The spirit of the world, the great calm presence of the Creator, comes not forth to the sorceries of opium or of wine. The sublime vision comes to the pure and simple soul in a clean and chaste body. That is not an inspiration, which we owe to narcotics, but some counterfeit excitement and fury. Milton says that the lyric poet may drink wine and live generously, but the epic poet, he who shall sing of the gods and their descent unto men, must drink water out of a wooden bowl...His cheerfulness should be the gift of the sunlight; the air should suffice for his inspiration, and he should be tipsy with water. (From "The Poet") 3. The great mystics, incarnations, sages, religious leaders, etc through the ages never used drugs in their spiritual undertakings nor advocated their adherents taking them. This includes Lord Krishna, Brahma, Vasudeva, Narada Muni, Shakara, the great Indian Acharyas, Lord Chaitanya, Lord Buddha, Lao Tzu, Huang Po, Confucius, Mohammed, Socrates, Plato, Lord Jesus Christ, His apostles and disciples, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. John of the Cross, innumerable other Christian saints and mystics, the metaphysical poets, Milton, Dante, William Blake, the American transcendentalists, Emerson, Thoreau, Emily Dickinson and Whitman -- the list can extend indefinitely. And typically, the principle religions of the world -- Buddhism, Taoism, Mohammedism, Christianity, Judaism, and Hinduism -- forbid the use of drugs by their adherents. Obviously, drugs are not necessary for spiritual realization, and they are not recent discoveries. Children feel no need for them; nor will adults if they only see things as they truly are. 4. Krishna Consciousness involves a firm belief in Krishna, the Supreme Lord, Who is the Absolute Controller and Proprietor of all things. He has not given any indication that drugs provide a legitimate means for reaching Him. He sets down the way by which man may reach His Supreme eternal Abode in the Bhagavad Gita, and no mention is made of drugs. Quite the contrary, He condemns those who follow their own way to the exclusion of Scriptures (Gita 9.3; 16.23-24). 5. From our personal observation of LSD-users who have come to the Society under the influence of or shortly after an LSD "trip," we have found them to been generally confused, disoriented, and badly in need of help. Their conversations have not indicated them to be enlightened beings. Many have had to resort to hospitalization, psychiatrics, etc. Not only are the drugs'results artificial and imaginary, but it they tend to make the user think himself to be further spiritually progressed than he actually is. Many young "avatars" have dropped by the Society to teach Swami Bhaktivedanta about God. In fact, some have claimed to be the Shining, Omnipotent One. 6. The effects of the drugs are only temporary; the drug user is "up" shortly after taking the drug, but after a few hours he "comes down." Krishna Consciousness teaches how to "stay high forever" without bringdowns, by chanting one's way into eternity. Nor do drugs free one from material hankerings such as food, sex desires, etc..,but sometimes rather provoke desires. 7. Some members of the Society experienced psychedelic drugs extensively before meeting Swami Bhaktivedanta, and they now no longer take them. Some consider their previous drug experiences as a kind of spiritual "undergraduate" study and now consider Krishna Consciousness to be graduate school study. Krishna Consciousness teaches one how to swim in the spiritual ocean without water-wings. In conclusion, we would like to encourage the positive and age-old method of Krishna Consciousness, approved by the great acharyas (spiritual masters) of India, as a true method of spiritual advancement and development. The results are eternal. Through sincere practice, one can come to know his relationship to God, to the world, God's relationship to the Universe and to the individual soul, and ultimately one can attain realization that one is not matter but spirit soul eternally related to the Supreme, and, through Krishna's grace, reach His supreme and eternal Abode. We encourage psychedelic drug users to finish their experimentation, graduate once and for all, and take up God realization under a qualified spiritual master such as Swami Bhaktivedanta. Then they can chant their way into eternity and face God independent of "sugarcubes."

Srila Prabhupada address the use of psychedelic drugs as a means to attain mystical experiences in the following quote: Hayagriva: Today, people claim to induce mystical states through psychedelic drugs. Prabhupada: These are artificial means, and they cannot be sustained. It is better to engage in the bona fide devotional process -- sravanam kirtanam visnohsmaranam pada-sevanam [SB. 7.5.23] -- always hearing about Krsna, talking about Him, remembering Him, serving Him in the temple, distributing His literatures, and so on. There are many services we can render in order to be fully absorbed in Krsna consciousness. (Dialectic Spiritualism)

On this episode of the BLISS Podcast!

Srila Prabhupada explain why the Buddhist definition of compassion remains incomplete in his commentary on the Caitanya Caritamrta. It is stated that mercy is one of the qualities of a Buddhist, but mercy is a relative thing. We show our mercy to a subordinate or to one who is suffering more than ourselves. However, if there is a superior person present, the superior person cannot be the object of our mercy. Rather, we are objects for the mercy of the superior person. Therefore showing compassion and mercy is a relative activity. It is not the Absolute Truth. Apart from this, we also must know what actual mercy is. To give a sick man something forbidden for him to eat is not mercy. Rather, it is cruelty. Unless we know what mercy really is, we may create an undesirable situation. If we wish to show real mercy, we will preach Krsna consciousness in order to revive the lost consciousness of human beings, the living entity's original consciousness. Since the Buddhist philosophy does not admit the existence of the spirit soul, the so-called mercy of the Buddhists is defective. (Madhya 9.50 purport)

Is there a hell? Isn't our present situation in the world full of wars, crime, abuse, torture already a hell on earth? In this article Purujit Dasa explains why the hellish punishment is a necessity in the creation of the Lord. Lord Krsna says: asurim yonim apanna mudha janmani janmani mam aprapyaiva kaunteya tato yanty adhamam gatim (Bg 16.20) "Attaining repeated birth amongst the species of demoniac life, such persons can never approach Me. Gradually they sink down to the most abominable type of existence." One may question, if God is all merciful, why does He subject the sinners to such punishment? What is a sin? These are undoubtedly important questions people might ask when faced with the concept of hell as a place where sinners go after death to suffer for their disobedience of God's laws. It is said that man is the architect of his own fortune. Man proposes, God disposes. Whatever state of mind we achieve at the time of death, that state of being we will get in our next life. The soul is carried in a subtle body to acquire a new body according to his various desires he has accumulated in life. It is just like in school. If a student studies throughout the year, he will pass an exam and then he finds a nice job to live happily in this world. If he slacks, he fails the exam and must struggle. The human form is awarded to us for one singular reason and that is to pass the exam of life. The exam of life will test how much we have developed our dormant Krsna consciousness. If one does not reach perfection in this life, he must again transmigrate to a material body and suffer the consequences of his actions. Those degraded conditioned souls who miss the opportunity to utilise the human vessel for this purpose and instead waste it by engaging in sophisticated animalism will degrade to lower life forms such as hog, dogs, cats, or even worse plants, trees or microbes. Indeed, there can be no bigger failure in life than this. Therefore everyone should very seriously and diligently control his senses and practise devotional service under the guidance of the spiritual master or his representatives and thus take advantage of this great benediction. If one is unwilling to do this, or opposes the Krsna consciousness movement in any way, he must take birth in one of the 4 800 000 species of life and undergo tremendous painful reactions. We may observe that compared to humans, animal or plant species have a reduced consciousness. Although the spirit souls are in quality one and they possess the same potential of going back to Godhead, the material conditioning does not allow the lower species than human to develop their consciousness in their precarious position. The soul is trapped in such body simply following gross material instincts without any chance to understand higher principles that govern this universe. This reduction of consciousness is the direct result of their prior life of hellish punishments in the planets of Yama, the lord of death as we are informed in the Vedic scriptures. It is a fact that one's consciousness becomes reduced when we undergo painful situations. For example, if one suffers from a toothache, he has a lack of concentration, lack of enthusiasm to work and he cannot think properly. By reading in the Vedas we get to know about various types of suffering the sinful living entities undergo to repent for the sins they have commited in their previous life. For example, the superintendents of the lord of death pour hot iron into the mouths of those who waste time by drinking alcoholic beverages or force those who indulge in the act of illicit sex to embrace a hot iron form of a woman or man. These hellish punishments are meant to reduce any sort of human level of consciousness of the sinful entity so he can then assume the animal or plant form in his upcoming life. Without such "training" the living entity would have a human consciousness in the animal or plant life and that would make his suffering even more severe. It is a facility for those who refuse to act in their human capacity to forget their potential and fully devote themselves to purely sensual life of animalism. For this tremendous painful sufferings are needed until the consciousness is reduced and one can lose any sort of human consideration. The Lord sends his representatives to preach to the conditioned souls to use their spiritual potential and fully utilise the human form of life for self realisation and liberation from the cycle of death, which is ever spinning by the material desires of the confused living beings who are searching for that which is not (maya). If the living entities try to control their envious nature and thus surrender to such representatives and with folded hands bow down to their feet with the express desire to purify their demonic tendencies, they make spiritual advancement by hearing transcendental instructions from such pure spiritual masters and executing their instructions. However, if they offend such representatives or do not execute their instructions to the best of their capacities, they are punished and must learn their lessons by undergoing horrible sufferings in their future lives. The one and only reason for being envious of such representatives is the desire to be the Lord and the enjoyer of one's work. One must give up sense gratification as the senses will drag one to enjoy on the animal platform. Such mentality leads downward only. Those who are intelligent will hear and follow, those who are foolish must first of all taste the bitter slaps of illusion before they can learn. Thus hellish worlds are just another form of the Lord's mercy upon the living entity. The Lord is ever-eager for His parts and parcels to come back home, back to Him to enjoy an eternal life full of knowledge and bliss. We should not be angry at the Lord for manifesting such punishments and understand that it is we who perversely desire such punishments by indulging in sense gratification in this world which is devoid of devotional service. One should not be foolish by voluntarily gliding towards hell in order to taste the bitter medicine. Quite the opposite, he should enthusiastically meet the challenge of human life and make the best of the bad bargain of the material existence by dedicating his life 24 hours to the service of the Lord. Thus he will achieve perfection in this very life without any need to suffer in the hellish worlds.

Purujit Dasa, the Founder of The B.L.I.S.S, gives a class about the powerful nature of the mind.

This podcast gets really spicy.

Start preparing by tuning in to this BLISS Podcast with His Grace Purujit dasa and Maitreya Rsi Dasa.

One so-called spiritualist once said in a lecture that "I do not believe in a personal God, because a personal God would never let the poor cows suffer and be eaten." How could an all-good God be so cruel as to let suffering happen in this world, especially, in some cases, on such a large scale? Sometimes, it's seen that man rejects the idea of God because of some traumatic incident in his life, by which he determines that God is dead, or that he was never there in the first place. One so-called spiritualist once said in a lecture that "I do not believe in a personal God, because a personal God would never let the poor cows suffer and be eaten." We all want to put the blame on God when something bad happens and claim the credit for ourselves when something good happens. If we get something nice, we think it's due to our own own efforts, and if something unpalatable happens to us, then we think that God is very unfair. This is all the false ego. Something is good for us to so we accept, and when something is not good for us we reject it. Krishna is the supreme controller and personality of Godhead, and by Krishna's supreme will, everything is happening. It is said that not even a blade of grass moves without the will of Krishna. But simultaneously, it is due to the individual, fragmental part of God, the minute living entity, what we are, that chooses to suffer. Krishna expands himself into minute part and parcels so that he can participate in transcendental loving relationships with him in service, which increases his transcendental bliss. Not that he needs such service, because he is atma-rama, or self-satisfied. If the living entities had no free will, then the relationship would not be blissful, as there would be no love. One cannot reciprocate with a programmed robot. "Hold on." I hear you cry. "We choose to suffer? Why would we ever condemn ourselves like that?" Yes, this is what we accept as enjoyment. When we want to be the enjoyer of our senses instead of the servant of God, we have to accept a material body, and that covers us with the illusion that we are enjoying the separately from God. We are very much attached to the body, and we accept those in relation to the body as kinsmen and the land of it's birth as worshipable. The desire to become Krishna is very strong in the conditioned soul, and he chooses the temporary life of enjoyment in a material body in order to have that desire fulfilled. We substitute Krishna for things relative to the body in order to pretend that we are the maintainer and enjoyer, to usurp Krishna's position, although we are still serving Krishna through his impersonal expansion of energies, which make up the material world and body with it's sense objects and senses respectively. For every action we perform in the material world for our own enjoyment, that is called work, which is better known as Karma. When we do something, we get a subsequent reaction from material nature. Just like if I overeat some nice sweets. It might seem very appealing in the beginning, but if I eat too much, I will find out very shortly that the same sweet will cause me indigestion, which is not so appealing. The reaction is unavoidable and guaranteed if I eat more than my body is capable of digesting. That is a law of nature. So in the same way, whatever we do has a reaction. We might not immediately see the effect, or if we experience the effect we might not be able to ascertain the cause, but it is there. There's nothing that exists without a previous cause in this world. Even if one is a scientist and says there is no ultimate cause, there is still some kind of chain of action and reaction, and that's simple science. We can therefore understand that everything that is happening to us is just an impartial and natural reaction from nature. Furthermore, the cause is always intelligent, there is no example of a cause being initiated by something impersonal. There is no case of material elements or chemicals simply coming together on their own accord and creating something. We know that everything is enacted by some kind of intelligence. Even if a scientist tries to prove that chemicals are the ultimate cause, he will try to prove by an experiment conducted by himself, which means that a person will still always be the cause. So even if something appears to be caused by impersonal nature, from our practical experience we can logically conclude that even that had a person behind it. So the reactions we experience now as happiness and suffering are all of our own accord. The eternal soul is passing through varieties of bodies, creating reaction after reaction, some pious, some impious, and then that creates another body in order to taste the fruit of that seed of karma. It's not that everything is happening to us by chance. This nature is ultimately under the control of Krishna, as is confirmed in his Bhagavad-Gita when he says: This material nature, which is one of My energies, is working under My direction, O son of Kunti, producing all moving and nonmoving beings. Under its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again. [BG 9.10] Krishna is not partial to anyone here. Krishna is aloof from the dealings of the material world, it is simply going on by his energies. Just like in the material world, we have a practical example that a factory owner's factory is going on by his simple pushing of a button or by no effort at all, by his presence and direction the factory is going on. He simply set up the factory, employed some workers and now he can relax. So if a minute living entity with just a little bit of power can make something work by the effect of his energy, what to speak of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who full of inconceivable energies? God is aloof from the material manifestation even though it is expanded from His energy and is under His ultimate control. Meanwhile, He is enjoying in the spiritual world in His eternal and transcendental blissful pastimes. When we become envious of his supreme position, we have to come down to the material world to try enjoy our so called pastimes, which are temporary, mundane and miserable. But because that is our desire, Krishna is obliged to fulfill it. Krishna is the dearest friend of all living entities, and when one of them wants something, Krishna immediately fulfills that desire. So this material world is simply the manifestation of our desire to be God, and everything that happens within it is a reaction to our previous attempts to lord it over the material nature. We shouldn't get it wrong that Krishna is a person like us, who enjoys the sufferings of others and thinks it well that those who displease him are punished. It is said in the Upanishad, "The Lord engages the living entity in pious activities so that he may be elevated. The Lord engages him in impious activities so that he may go to hell." [Kausitaki Upanishad 3.8] The Lord is impartial to the living entities. He does not interrupt their free will. The Lord, however, is expanded within the hearts of all living beings as the expansion of his energy called the Paramatma [God, within the heart], or the Super-soul. This is sometimes felt as intuition. Depending on a soul's desire, Krishna inspires him from within to act in a certain way. Therefore, if one wants to act as a criminal, he can do so, but he has to suffer the consequences, and those same consequences are felt in later lives in the forms of disease, misfortune and similar other calamities. In the same way, pious activities reward one with material benedictions like a good birth in a highly respected family, a healthy, beautiful body, different degrees of wealth and a highly desirable significant other. Ultimately, however, all of these so-called pious or impious activities are bad for living entities. Someone might be very inclined to do good for others, and so he engages in philanthropy, charity and the like, but that is all unfavorable because it is done for sense gratification. Sense gratification is for immediate enjoyment of the gross senses, and then it extends to family, society and nation, but remains selfish. Anything done in such a consciousness means one has to take a material body to enjoy the fruits of that labor of love. Therefore, even though our sense gratification may take the guise of pious, "good" works, it is actually all bad and very much against our interest. But because we are an eternal part and parcel of Krishna, who is sac-cit-ananda [Bs 5.1], eternally blissful and full of knowledge, we are also constituted like that, but in a minute form. That's why we are always looking for happiness, education and the preservation of life. Being covered by the material energy and reactions to past deeds, however, we are forgetful of our original nature and try to find the same satisfaction of the self through the agency of the body and the sense objects. Such a attempt will always prove frustrating however, because we are not the body, but spirit soul. When you try to satisfy the senses, whether its in an illegal and impious way, through intoxication and illicit sex, or through pious activities like charity and philanthropy, these things only affect the body and mind, and therefore they don't satisfy the soul. Even more pressing is the fact that whatever we accumulate in this life due to our activities will be taken away by the influence of eternal time in the form of death. We may be very proud of our nice material situation, with a bank balance, healthy body and happy family, but at the end of the body we will have to start all over again and again eternally, remaining ever unsatisfied. So the jiva [spirit soul] always has free will and that continues even when under the control of material nature, although in a limited way. We can choose from two consciousnesses: God-consciousness, or Krishna consciousness, and material consciousness. In the former consciousness, we are in our real position of freedom, where we can choose out of our complete free will to serve Krishna in myriad ways in a blissful eternal life. Material consciousness means just the opposite: One is pushed by the relentless senses to enjoy and control everything one surveys. Free will is limited to being pushed from enjoyment to another, and one must struggle to service and maintain the material body in order to do so. In Krishna-consciousness, everything done for Krishna elevates one higher and higher on the spiritual plane, because work in Krishna consciousness is transcendental, it incurs no reaction. In material consciousness every action done for our sense enjoyment leads to more material bodies. Free will is always there and it is the cause of our eternal happiness or eternal distress. Krishna is not inimical towards the living entities, He is their dear-most friend and always has their interests in heart. Therefore, this material world exists as a manifestation of the mercy of Krishna. It is not that God has forsaken us, and he is some frustrated old man in he sky who's just taking out that frustration on us. It's like a prison. The government doesn't want people to go to prison, but they are forced by the criminals to create a place for them. They would rather everyone be a happy and good citizen, but at the same time they cannot check the illegal desires of the would-be criminals. Therefore, a prison-house is erected and such a place, although the inmates may think it unfair, is actually for their own benefit. It rectifies their mentality so one day they might enjoy the same freedom and happiness that is automatic once their attitude and behavior is nice. In the same way, the material world is against our interest to be happy because everything we do here, be it pious or impious, will cause a reaction from material nature by which we have to enjoy or suffer the result in a temporary material body, and that can never make the eternal self that we are happy. That unhappiness eventually pushes to question, "why am I here?' and "why should I have to die?". Our real happiness is to understand the proper use of our free will: Instead of using it to try and lord it over everything, we should serve Krishna in love and devotion, because actually it is our own attitude of trying to be Krishna that creates our unhappy position, not the other way around.