# Suffering *On the cause of suffering and how to become free* --- ### Greatest Problem > This is the greatest problem, that "I am suffering. I do not want to die." But everyone is forced to die. Anything he does not like, he is forced to accept. And there is no solution. These problems are there. So human life is meant for solving these problems. — [[spoken/1976/760619sb.tor|Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.6.3, Toronto, 1976]] --- ### Forced to Accept > That is the problem. "I do not want to suffer, but suffering is forced upon me." This is the problem. You are being forced to do something which you do not like. This is called material world. You are under the laws of nature. — [[spoken/1976/760619sb.tor|Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.6.3, Toronto, 1976]] --- ### Threefold Miseries > There are three kinds of miseries: miseries caused by our own body and mind, miseries caused by other living entities, and miseries caused by natural disturbances. In this material world, we are always suffering from one of these three kinds of miseries. — [[spoken/1976/760619sb.tor|Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.6.3, Toronto, 1976]] --- ### Diseased Condition > A patient who is suffering from some disease, he is unable to enjoy, but if he forcibly enjoys, then his life becomes risky. He becomes more implicated. Similarly, we are in diseased condition, and if we want to enjoy in this diseased condition, we become more and more implicated. — [[spoken/1976/760619sb.tor|Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.6.3, Toronto, 1976]] --- ### Nature's Laws > Knowingly or unknowingly, if we do something wrong, we have to be punished. This is the law of nature. Just like fire. If a child touches fire, the fire will burn. Fire will not consider, "Here is a child." Similarly, nature's law will act. — [[spoken/1976/760619sb.tor|Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.6.3, Toronto, 1976]] --- ### Frustration After Enjoyment > After too much material enjoyment, the next stage is frustration. That stage is coming to your country. Therefore the boys are becoming hippies. After too much material enjoyment, the next stage is—that is natural—frustration. — [[spoken/1969/690510r1.col|Room Conversation, Columbus, 1969]] --- ### Before Frustration > So before reaching to that point of frustration, if you take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you reach the real standard of happiness, because everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa. — [[spoken/1969/690510r1.col|Room Conversation, Columbus, 1969]] --- ### Material Body Means Suffering > Material desire is the root cause of all suffering. Because we have material desires, therefore we have to accept material body. And material body means suffering. — [[spoken/1976/760619sb.tor|Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.6.3, Toronto, 1976]] --- ### The Only Scarcity > My Guru Mahārāja used to say that "There is no scarcity in the world. The only scarcity is that people are not Kṛṣṇa conscious. That's all. Otherwise there is no scarcity." He has declared like that. — [[spoken/1970/701215sb.ind|Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.1.27, Indore, 1970]] --- ### How to Become Free > There is no other way to escape death and old age and birth. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya. If you always think of Kṛṣṇa, then you are guaranteed that after leaving this body, there is no more material body. You go back to home, back to Godhead. — [[spoken/1972/721017sb.vrn|Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.6, Vṛndāvana, 1972]] --- *10 quotes from Śrīla Prabhupāda on suffering* [[wiki/quotes|Back to Quotes]]