16 Elevation to Krsna Consciousness

abrahma-bhuvanal lokah
punar avartino ‘rjuna

mam upetya tu kaunteya
punar janma na vidyate

‘From the highest planet in the material world, down
to the lowest, all are places of misery, where repeat-
ed birth and death take place. But one who attains
to My abode, O son of Kunti, never takes birth
again.” (Bg. 8.16)

The ambition for happiness is natural and good,
but the attempt to derive it from inert matter by
so-called scientific arrangements is an illusory attempt
doomed to frustration. Those who are befooled
cannot understand this. How a person is driven by
the lust for material happiness is also described in
Bhagavad-gita.

idam adya maya labdham
imam prapsye manoratham

idam astidam api me
bhavisyati punar dhanam

“The demoniac person thinks: ‘So much wealth do
I have today, and I will gain more according to my
schemes. So much is mine now, and it will increase
in the future, more and more.’ ” (Bg. 16.13)

This atheistic or godless civilization is a huge
affair contrived for the gratification of our senses,
and now we are all mad after money in order to
maintain this empty shell. Money is sought after by
everyone because that is the medium of exchange
