Prabhupada: [...] Modern scientists and philosophers do not think about these four things: birth, death, disease, and old age. They set them aside. “Oh, let us be happy. Let us enjoy this life.” But human life is meant for finding a solution to this bondage of birth, death, disease and old age. If any civilization has not found a solution to these four problems, then that is not a human civilization. Human civilization is meant for finding a complete solution to these things.

So here in the Bhagavad-gita, the Lord says, karma-jam buddhi-yuktah. Karma-jam means whenever there is action there will be some reaction. If one acts in badness, there will be a bad reaction. But reaction, either good or bad, is, in the higher sense, all suffering. Suppose that by good action I get a good birth, fine bodily features, and a good education. All these good things I may have, but that does not mean that I am free from material pains. The material pains are birth, death, old age and disease. Even if I am a rich man, a beautiful man, an educated man, born in an aristocratic family, etc., I still cannot avoid death, old age, and disease.

So, we must not be concerned with pious activities or impious activities. We must be concerned with transcendental activities only. That will save us from this bondage of birth, death, old age and disease. That should be our aim in life. We should not be hankering after good or bad things. For example, suppose one is suffering from some disease. He is lying in bed, eating, passing nature’s call uncomfortably, and taking bitter medicines. He always has to be kept clean by the nurses; otherwise there is an obnoxious smell. While he is lying in this condition some friends come to him and ask how he is feeling. “Yes, I am feeling well.” What is this well? Lying in bed uncomfortably taking bitter medicine, and unable to move! Yet despite all these inconveniences he says, “I am well.” Similarly, in our material conception of life, if we think, “I am happy,” that is foolishness. There is no happiness in material life. It is impossible to have happiness here. In this condition, we do not know the meaning of happiness. That’s why this very word is used, manisinah—thoughtful.

We seek happiness by some extraneous, artificial means, but how long does it last? It will not endure. We again come back to sorrow. Suppose, by intoxication, we feel happy. That is not our actual happiness. Suppose I am made unconscious by chloroform, and I don’t feel the pain of an operation. That does not mean that I am not having an operation. This is artificial. Real pleasure, real life exists.

As is commanded in the Bhagavad-gita by Sri Krishna, the thoughtful give up the reaction of work, being situated on the level of pure consciousness. The result is that this bondage of birth and death, disease and old age comes to an end. This end is in union with the true identity, Krishna, the reservoir of pleasure and eternal bliss. There, indeed, is the true happiness for which we are intended.

Excerpt from, Krishna, the Reservoir of Pleasure.