Text 24] The Behavior of a Perfect Person 107

ka@maih—by material desires; apiiryayd—without end, one after
another; karmdni—activities; karyamdnah—constantly being com-
pelled to perform; aham—I; ndnd-yonisu—in various forms of life;
yojitah—engaged in the struggle for existence.

TRANSLATION

Because of insatiable material desires, I was being carried away
by the waves of material nature’s laws, and thus I was engaging in
different activities, struggling for existence in various forms of
life.

PURPORT

As long as a living entity wants to fulfill various types of material
desire, he must continuously change from one body to accept another.
Srila Vigvanatha Cakravarti Thakura explains that as a small piece of
grass falls in a river and is tossed about with different types of wood and
tree branches, the living entity floats in the ocean of material existence
and is dashed and tossed amidst material conditions. This is called the
struggle for existence. One kind of fruitive activity causes the living
being to take one form of body, and because of actions performed in that
body, another body is created. One must therefore stop these material ac-
tivities, and the chance to do so is given in the human form of life.
Specifically, our energy to act should be engaged in the service of the
Lord, for then materialistic activities will automatically stop. One must
fulfill one’s desires by surrendering unto the Supreme Lord, for He
knows how to fulfill them. Even though one may have material desires,
one should therefore engage in the devotional service of the Lord. That
will purify one’s struggle for existence.

akamah sarva-kamo va
moksa-kama udara-dhih

tivrena bhakti-yogena
yajeta purusam param

“A person who has broader intelligence, whether he be full of all ma-
terial desire, without any material desire, or desiring liberation, must by
all means worship the supreme whole, the Personality of Godhead.”

(Bhag. 2.3.10)
