xt The Nectar of Devotion

in either state because of our eternal constitutional position. Sense
gratification does not endure for long, and it is therefore called
capala-sukha, or flickering happiness. For example, an ordinary family
man who works very hard day and night and is successful in giving
comforts to the members of his family thereby relishes a kind of
mellow, but his whole advancement of material happiness immedi-
ately terminates along with his body as soon as his life is over. Death
is therefore taken as the representative of God for the atheistic class
of men. The devotee realizes the presence of God by devotional
service, whereas the atheist realizes the presence of God in the shape
of death. At death everything is finished, and one has to begin a new
chapter of life in a new situation, perhaps higher or lower than the last
one. In any field of activity, political, social, national or international,
the result of our actions will be finished with the end of life. That is
sure.

Bhakti-rasa, however, the mellow relished in the transcendental
loving service of the Lord, does not finish with the end of life. It
continues perpetually and is therefore called amrta, that which does
not die but exists eternally. This is confirmed in all Vedic literatures.
The Bhagavad-gita says that a little advancement in bhakti-rasa can
save the devotee from the greatest danger, that of missing the
opportunity for human life. The rasas derived from our feelings in
social life, in family life, or in the greater family life of altruism,
philanthropism, nationalism, socialism, communism, etc., do not
guarantee that one’s next life will be as a human being. We prepare
our next life by our actual activities in the present life. A living entity
is offered a particular type of body as a result of his action in the
present body. These activities are taken into account by a superior
authority known as daiva, or the authority of God. This daiva is
explained in the Bhagavad-gitd as the prime cause of everything, and
in the Srimad-Bhdgavatam it is stated that a man takes his next body
by daiva-netrena, which means by the supervision of the authority of
the Supreme. In an ordinary sense daiva is explained as destiny. Daiva
supervision gives us a body selected from 8,400,000 forms; the choice
does not depend on our selection, but is awarded to us according to
our destiny. If our body at present is engaged in the activities of Krsna
