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Teachings of Lord Chaitanya
from the transcendental loving service of Krishna, and thus they are subjected to the three-fold miseries of material existence. On account of the conditioned soul's eternally existing attitude of divorce from Krishna, the spell of material energy awards him two kinds of bodily existence: one is the gross body, consisting of the five elements, and the other is the subtle body, consisting of mind, intelligence, and ego. Because he is covered by these two kinds of bodies, the conditioned soul is eternally suffering the pangs of material existence, known as the three-fold miseries. We are subjected to six kinds of enemies, such as lust and anger, etc., and that is the everlasting disease of the conditioned soul.
Diseased and conditioned, the living entity is transmigrating all over the Universe. Sometimes he is situated in the upper planetary system, and sometimes he is travelling in the lower planetary system. That becomes his normal conditioned life. This disease can be cured only when the expert physician, the bona fide Spiritual Master, is met and followed. When the conditioned soul faithfully follows the instructions of such a bona fide Spiritual Master, the material disease is cured and the living entity is promoted to the liberated stage, and again attains to the devotional service of Krishna, and goes back Home, back to Krishna.
A conditioned living entity should come to the consciousness of his real position. He should pray to the Lord: how long and how much will I be under the rule of the different bodily functions, such as lust and anger? As masters of the conditioned soul, lust and anger are never merciful; and there is no cessation of the conditioned soul's service to such bad masters. When he comes to his real consciousness, or Krishna Consciousness, he gives up serving those bad masters and approaches Krishna with a frank and open heart to achieve His shelter. Then he prays to Krishna to be engaged in His transcendental loving service.
In the Vedic literature fruitive activities have sometimes been highly praised, and sometimes the mystic process of Yoga is praised; and, sometimes, the speculative search for knowledge is praised. They are each considered as a different way to self-realization. But in spite of praise for the different paths of self-realization, in every writing the path of devotional service has been accepted as the foremost. In other words, devotional service to Lord Krishna is the highest perfectional path of self-realization, recommended to be performed directly. The effects of fruitive activities, mystic meditation, and the cultivation of speculative knowledge are not direct methods of self-realization. They are indirect methods because without the addition of devotional service