Category:Hard Struggle for Existence
Theme Analysis
In the Vedic worldview, the "hard struggle for existence" is not merely a biological necessity but a spiritual symptom of the soul's attempt to dominate material nature. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the living entity, originally a spiritual spark, is now entangled in a complex web of mind and senses, forced to fight for survival in a hostile environment. By understanding the mechanics of this struggle—ranging from the "hog-like" pursuit of sense gratification to the evolutionary trap of repeated birth and death—the human being can choose to abandon this futile battle and return to the effortless, eternal life of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
- The Animal Paradigm: Living entities in the material world, from hogs to humans, are driven by the same instincts for eating, sleeping, mating, and defending, laboring hard for a happiness that is ultimately illusory.
- The Darwinian Trap: While modern science observes the "survival of the fittest," it misses the spiritual cause; the struggle is rooted in the mind and the six senses, which drag the soul through various species in an attempt to become the "puruṣa" (enjoyer).
- The Pavarga Principle: Material life is characterized by pavarga (hard struggle, foam at the mouth, and defeat). The purpose of real religion (dharma) is to stop this cycle and deliver the soul from the battlefield of Kurukṣetra.
- The Path of Dovetailing: True relief comes only when the individual consciousness is dovetailed with the Supreme. By praying for deliverance and engaging in the welfare work of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the "hard struggle" is replaced by divine protection.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Transcending the Hard Struggle for Existence.
Pages in category "Hard Struggle for Existence"
The following 30 pages are in this category, out of 30 total.
A
- A hog's life is degraded in its standard of happiness, which entails living in a filthy place, engaging in sex enjoyment at every opportune moment, and laboring hard in a struggle for existence, but this is unknown to the hog
- All the living entities who are in the material world are struggling very hard for existence. For them the Lord, after creation of the material world, gave the Vedic wisdom advising how to live and get rid of the material entanglement. BG 1972 purports
- All the people of the world, they are struggling hard for existence, simply calculating that, - This much I have achieved today, and this much I'll achieve tomorrow. In this way my bank balance will be increased more and more
- Apart from human beings, other species like cats and dogs are also struggling very hard day and night for existence. Thus the struggle for existence continues, and the conditioned soul changes from one position to another
E
- Every one of these living entities, they are making . . . having a hard struggle for existence. But under the spell of the illusory energy, they are thinking, "We are happy," although whole day and night they are unhappy; their desires are not fulfilled
- Everyone is very . . . working very hard, struggling for existence, but they do not know how they can actually become happy. Na te viduh svartha-gatim hi visnum (SB 7.5.31). That they do not know
- Everyone is working so hard, struggle for existence. He is trying. Why one is trying to get money? Because he thinks that - If I get money, then the distressed condition in which I am suffering, it can be mitigated
I
- In that hard struggle for existence, they deny the existence of the supreme authority, Purusottama, the Supreme Personality of Godhead
- In the scriptures the Lord says that those attracted by this material nature are undergoing a hard struggle for existence. BG 1972 purports
- Intelligence to counteract the hard struggle for existence is assisted by the senses for acquiring knowledge, and the living energy maintains himself by manipulating the active organs, like the hands and legs
O
- One should become religious or accept religious principle to stop this pavarga, the different kinds of hard struggle for existence. To stop, that is the purpose of dharma. But generally people execute dharma to get some artha. Dharma artha
- Our business is to pray to Krsna to get me out of this struggling, hard struggle for existence in this material world
S
- So this purusa, when he's struggling, manah sastanindriyani prakrti-sthani karsati (BG 15.7), hard struggle for existence to become purusa, but he cannot become purusa. He's prakrti
- Somehow or other we have come in contact with material nature, and because of the mind and the six senses, we are struggling hard to exist. That is Darwin's theory - the struggle for existence, survival of the fittest
- Sometimes such meditative processes pass for transcendental meditation. King Puranjana, the living entity, being thus victimized by the hard struggle for existence, took to transcendental meditation with his friends and relatives
- Sri Isopanisad instructs us not to make one-sided attempts to win the struggle for existence. Everyone is struggling hard for existence, but the laws of material nature are so hard and fast that they do not allow anyone to surpass them
- Such men (who is engaged in pursuing material prosperity) do not know that after a hard struggle for life one must change his body, with no certainty of what kind of body he will receive next
T
- The false sense of egoism (namely myself and mine) has become overly prominent in the world, and there is a hard struggle for existence in human society
- The human soul further prays: The living entity is put under the influence of material nature and continues a hard struggle for existence on the path of repeated birth and death
- The living entities serving material energy are struggling hard for existence and happiness, which is presented to them as illusion. But those in the spiritual energy are placed under the direct service of the Lord in eternal life, knowledge and bliss
- The Puranas are so divided that any class of men can take advantage of them and gradually regain their lost position and get out of the hard struggle for existence
- Those who are going to be religious for getting relief from this hard struggle for existence, for them arthasya, you require some artha, money. If you are actually religious, then your artha should not be spent for sense gratification
W
- We are always full of anxieties, and at last there is death. This is material life. We work very hard, struggle for..., struggle hard for existence, and that also, at the end, we die
- We are thinking that, "I am American," "I am this," "I am that," and toiling and laboring hard, struggle for existence. Therefore the most beneficial welfare activity is KC. We are reminding people that - You are son of such great personality, or Krsna
- We may also take this material world as a Battlefield of Kuruksetra. Everyone is struggling hard for existence on this battlefield, and at every step there is danger
- When a soul wants to enjoy this material world, forgetting his real home in the spiritual world, he takes this life of hard struggle for existence. This unnatural life can be stopped when his consciousness is dovetailed with Supreme consciousness of God