Burlingame, CA
Let’s compare the two words, sport and work.
Sport: an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.
The word, sport derives from the shortening of the word, disport: “to enjoy oneself unrestrainedly; recreation or amusement.”
Work: activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result.
In Goloka Vrndavana, the topmost planet in the spiritual sky, Krishna, along with His cows, family members, friends and lovers, are not in need of anything and therefore they need not work hard to achieve a result. They simply enjoy loving exchanges together all day and night. They are “all play and no work.”
In fact, throughout the entire spiritual world, there’s no work to do:
“In the Vaikunthas [located in the spiritual sky] there are airplanes, but they make no tumultuous sounds. Material airplanes are not at all safe: they can fall down and crash at any time, for matter is imperfect in every respect. In the spiritual sky, however, the airplanes are also spiritual, and they are spiritually brilliant and bright. These airplanes do not fly business executives, politicians or planning commissions as passengers, nor do they carry cargo or postal bags, for these are all unknown there. These planes are for pleasure trips only . . .” (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Adi lila 5.22)
On the other hand, in the material world, everyone must work hard:
“A man travels to earn his livelihood, leaving home early in the morning, catching a local train and being packed in a compartment. He has to stand for an hour or two in order to reach his place of business. Then again he takes a bus to get to the office. At the office he works hard from nine to five; then he takes two or three hours to return home.” Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.5.1)
“In Sanskrit linguistics, the word pavarga, is used to describe the condition of the material world. pavarga indicates the letters pa, pha, ba, bha, and ma, each of which stands for one of the material miseries. Pa indicates parisrama, hard labor. In this material world, you have to work very hard for sense gratification. And pha indicates phenila, foam. When you work very hard, foam sometimes comes from your mouth. We often see this among horses or other animals. Ba indicates byarthata, frustration. In spite of working very hard, one feels frustration. And bha indicates bhaya, fear. Although one works very hard, still one is fearful about what will happen. And finally, ma indicates mrtyu, death. We work so hard, day and night, and still death comes.” (Dharma; chapter 4)
Summary:
In the material world, one must hard work all day and night; whereas, in spiritual world, one sports with Krishna all day and night, enjoying unrestrained recreation and amusement.
Conclusion:
The spiritual world is better than the material world and one should go there as soon as possible.
Om Tat Sat
Vaisesika Dasa
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