The Wise Man 55

The All-attractive features of Lord Krishna help one in attaining Krishna
Consciousness, and when one is engaged in Krishna Consciousness he can
realize the relationship between Krishna and himself.

In this connection the Lord quotes one story from the commentary of
Madhva which occurs in Srimad Bhagwatam, Fifth Canto. The story in-
volves the instruction of Sarvajna to a poor man who came to him to have
his future told. When Sarvajna saw the horoscope of the poor man, he was
at once astonished that the man was so poor, and he said to him, “Oh, why
are you so unhappy? I see from your horoscope that you have some hidden
treasure left to you by your father. The horoscope, however, states that your
father could not disclose this to you because he died in a foreign place. But
now you can search out the hidden treasure left by your father and be happy.”
This story is cited because the living entity is suffering due to his ignorance
of the hidden treasure of his Father. The hidden treasure of the Father, Krishna,
is Love of Godhead. In every Vedic Scripture the conditioned soul is advised
to find that hidden treasure, which is known as Love of God. As is stated in the
Bhagavad Gita, a conditioned soul, although he is the son of the Wealthiest—
the Personality of Godhead—does not realize it; therefore the Vedic literature
is given to him to help him search out his Father and his paternal property.

Sarvajna further advised the poor man: “Don’t try to dig on the southern
side of your house to find the hidden treasure. If you do so, you'll be attacked
by a poisonous wasp and you will be baffled in finding the treasure. The search
should be to the eastern side where there is actual light—which is called devo-
tional service, or Krishna Consciousness. On the southern side there is ritualistic
performance of the Vedic Scripture, and on the western side there is specula-
tive empiric knowledge, and on the northern side there is the Yoga system,
or the meditational process for self realization.”

If somebody searches for his ultimate goal by the ritualistic process, he
will be baffled. Such a process involves the performance of rituals under the
guidance of the priest who takes money in exchange for service. A man thinks
he will be happy by such performances, but actually they will not make him
happy. Even if he does gain some result therefrom, it is only temporary, and
his material distresses will continue. So he will never become truly happy
by such a ritualistic process. Instead, his material pangs increase more and
more.

Similarly, digging for the hidden treasure on the northern side is compared
with one’s self-realization by dint of the meditational process. By the medita-
tional process perfection is to think oneself One with the Supreme Lord.
This merging into the Supreme by the living entity is something like the great
