OUT OF THIS WORLD

I am hiding out in my room. The last time I stepped outside my room I detected a strong odour of a fish being cooked and the distinct sound of Rugby match commentary coming from downstairs. This room is not exactly a comfort zone either as it is screaming out for decoration and none of the furniture matches and there is not enough space. If only I was truly transcendental I could easily tolerate al these things. Oh well.

I will be moving out next weekend. My brother’s girlfriend has just moved in with him, so I will rent her house. I can’t really afford it but I am desperate for a kitchen that doesn’t have the grease of cooked dead animals and hair of a cat called Jasper all over it (as is my current situation). I don’t know how long I will stay at the next place. It should be for at least one month. If I get any of the jobs I have applied for I will try to get a mortgage and buy a place.

Life is not easy. It used to be that a woman would grow up in her parents house, then get married and live with her husband, and then she would stay at home to keep the place nice and have children and look after them. That’s pretty rare these days. Now that we are ‘liberated’ we have to struggle to earn money, just like the men. Even when the husband is around, one income is often not enough for comfortable living. Even when there are children, the mother feels the need to go to work because she can earn more than the cost of child-care. Then there are the single mothers. Add to that the intense social and psychological pressure to look like a supermodel. What a struggle for existence. Is it really worth it?

Whatever position we have in this world: man, woman, rich, poor, black, white, fat, thin - there is bound to be material suffering. That is the nature of the world. Just try to make the best use of a bad bargain, as my old friend Tribhuvannatha Prabhu used to say. Whatever you have, try to use that for Krishna’s service, remember Krishna, and go back to Godhead where you belong.