(In the 1980s, while in Jalandhar, some people informed Srila Gurudeva about terrorist disturbances in Punjab and asked how they can be relieved of these clashes and attain peace. Srila Gurudeva answered this question in his evening discourse.)

This problem is not only of Punjab, but this is problem of the entire world. I will give you an example for comprehension. Listen carefully. At the birth place of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupad, who has propagated the instructions of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu through out the world by establishing Sri Chaitanya Math and Gaudiya Mission, our Most Revered spiritual master, Srila Bhakti Dayita Madhava Goswami Maharaj, has established Sri Chaitanya Gaudiya Math. Some years back, sankirtan hall was inaugurated at that place, in which Governor of Orissa, Sriyut Vishvambharnath Pandey, was present as chairman. Governor, Sri Pandey, told that during his world tour, when he reached Stockholm city of Sweden he was astonished by the opulence of the city. That city has the highest per capita income and expenditure. Every person of that place is wealthy. Nobody’s monthly income is less than 10,000 -15,000. He thought, “I used to think about bringing India to that level to make it prosperous. There are no economic problems - nursing of children, their education, even their medical treatment is taken care of by the government. Apart from this there is no adulteration either in medicines or in edibles.” I was astonished to see all this. I have just heard of heaven but I felt that I have seen the heaven directly. I became very happy. I said to the residents of Stockholm in admiration that their country is very prosperous and is on the paths of progress on all accounts.

When he said like that, a native of Stockholm said to him, “You have eulogized us too much by seeing our external opulence. Perhaps you have come here for the first time. But the real truth is that nobody is as unhappy as us in this world. It is true that everyone here is wealthy, there is no adulteration in edibles. Education for children, their medical treatment as well as employment is taken care of by the government. But the number of divorces happening here is unmatched in the whole of world. We are quite ahead in suicides committed due to mental agonies and the number of infractions happening between young men and women is also highest. Hearing all this Pandeyji’s mind got bewildered and he started thinking, “I wished to bring my country to this level to make it prosperous… but?” He said, “When I reached America, I saw that almost all people above 35 years need to take sleeping pills and with people with age less than 35, there are few who take sleeping pills.”

Beware! We think that we will become happy by having money. If just by getting money one would become happy then the Americans or Swedes should have been happy. Like this we think that having knowledge will make us happy. But in this prison like world, even the knowledgeable are unhappy, fools are also not happy, unmarried are not happy and married are not happy. One is pathological treatment and another is symptomatic treatment. These english medicines offer symptomatic treatment - if we treat one disease and upon medication, second symptom arises and treating that, third symptom arises and so on. In this process at some stage you may get into some serious disease. But in our ayurveda there is pathological treatment. The root cause of disease is analyzed in this. If the root cause of the disease is removed then there is no further disease.

Now try to find analogy of these things in your life. We are getting distress at every step in our whole life, starting from mother’s womb to death. What is the reason of all these sufferings? If we get to know the cause of these sufferings, then we can also get rid of this disease of distress forever by removing its root cause.

In this regard Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has said, making his devotee associate Srila Sanatana Goswami as medium, “See, in your real identity you are eternal servant of Krishna, means, you are not of this world. You are a part of the marginal potency of Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. Lord is your only eternal master. Because Lord is eternal and you have forgotten your eternal master, your eternal father, maya has put you in this prison house for punishment and is giving lots of sufferings.” This is the cause of our sufferings. Uproot this root cause (forgetfulness of Lord) - meaning - remember Lord, surrender to Him, and then you will get happiness instead of suffering. You will get absolute peace.

As Lord Sri Krishna speaks to Arjuna showing him the path of absolute peace.

tam eva saranam gaccha
sarva-bhavena bharata
tat-prasadat param santim
sthanam prapsyasi sasvatam
(Srimad Bhagavad Gita 18.62)

Now suppose there is a man. If someone surrenders to him he tries his utmost to protect him. Similarly, if we surrender to the Lotus Feet of Lord, our eternal master and say “O Lord! I am yours, Will He not protect us? Wouldn’t He release us from sufferings?”

We don’t surrender to Lord and forget Him. That is why the external potency of Lord punishes us and will continue to punish us. Beware! This world is not a place for happiness. If we think we can be happy in this world, it is impossible.

Yes, there can be standards of sorrow, anxiety. Just like, there is less anxiety in sattva-guna (mode of goodness), more anxiety in rajo-guna (mode of passion), even more in tamo-guna (mode of ignorance) and more than that in extreme tamo-guna (where indiscipline of enjoyment is more), the way it is happening now-a-days.

Hence not just surrendering but surrendering completely to Lord under all circumstances is essential. When we will completely surrender to Lord’s Lotus Feet, at that very instance our sufferings, anxiety and agonies would go away as hundred years of darkness gets removed as soon as a bulb is lighted.

“We won’t take shelter of Lord’s lotus feet, we will keep away from Him and we remain un-surrendered to Him but would establish peace in this world by some novel process” - a desire like this will only ultimately result in despondency. Never has it happened and never will it be.