Shrila Prabhupada says: human life is meant for tapasya(austerity), and you can easily observe this in the world today. Everywhere you look in this world, someone is struggling. The penniless must sleep in the cold, the women must starve themselves to be thin and beautiful, the children must slave away in school to secure any semblance of a future. The people are voluntarily undergoing penance, but for what reason? Simply sense enjoyment. The children want to enjoy a fruitful future, the woman wants to enjoy a strong man, and the homeless simply want to enjoy their eating and sleeping.
In a 1976 conversation with Mike Robinson, Prabhupada speaks about the meaning of life:
Mike Robinson: Can you tell me what you believe to be the meaning of life, why do we exist in the first place?
Prabhupāda: Meaning of life means to enjoy, but we are in a different platform of life. Therefore we are suffering instead of enjoying. But if you come to the real platform, then you enjoy. Because here we see struggle for existence. Everyone is struggling, but what is the aim? For enjoyment of life. Therefore life means enjoyment. But at the present moment our life is not enjoyment.
The living entities are constantly looking for enjoyment. Wether that is nice eatables, idle sports, wine, women or even their own daydreams, this pursuit of pleasure is never ending. We can only understand, then, that pleasure is the birthrite of the living entity. This is confirmed in the vedic literatures, where the soul is described as sat-chit-ananda or eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss. Actually, the pleasure which the living entity hankers for is something not separate from himself, it is only a lack of awareness of that true self which makes him unable to percieve the bliss. In the material world, the eternal living entity is covered in a material body which is asat - temporary, achit - full of ignorance and nirananda - full of miseries. The only way by which the living entity can realise his sat-chit-ananda state is by undergoing tapasya under the guidance of a bonafide spiritual master.
'Now, one whose sense are restrained... This human life is meant for restraining the senses. Tapaḥ. This is called tapasya, penance. Suppose I am habituated to some type of sense gratification. Now, I take to Krishna consciousness. My spiritual master or the scripture says, "Don't do this." So in the beginning, I may feel some inconvenience, but if you can tolerate that, that is tapasya. That is tapasya. Tapasya means I am feeling some inconvenience, bodily, but I am tolerating. That is called tapasya. And this human form of life is meant for that tapasya. Not that because my senses are demanding this satisfaction, I shall immediately offer. No. I shall train myself in such a way that my senses may demand, "My dear sir, give me this facility," I will say, "No. You cannot have." - Lecture on BG 2.62-72 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1968:
Material sense enjoyment is the cause of the living entity's bondage to the material nature. We become addicted to eating sleeping, mating and fighting, and forget the real aim of life - to realise one's relationship with Krishna, who is the controller of the material nature. His body is also sat-chit-ananda, but he is very special because whilst we minute living entities have the tendency to fall into illusion, he is completely transcendental to this. Krishna is also known as Achyuta, or infallible Lord, therefore he cannot be subject to the four imperfections of material life, illusion, making mistakes, imperfect senses and the tendency to cheat others.
"Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that tapaś cāsmi tapasviṣu. That acceptance of tapasya means that tapasya is itself Krishna. You associate with Krishna. When you voluntarily give up meat-eating or intoxication, this giving-up, this process, is Krishna. Krishna says, tapaś cāsmi tapasviṣu. This is tapasya. Tapasya means to accept voluntarily something as enjoined in the śāstras. Śāstra says... Krishna says. Whatever Krishna says, that is śāstra. What is Veda? Veda means what Krishna says; that is Veda. There is no other Veda." - Lecture on BG 7.9 -- Vrndavana, August 15, 1974
To be reinstated in our original spiritual position, the material condition should be given up. Shrila Prabhupada says: 'To give up this subtle body, one has to develop love for God, prema.' This process is simaltaneously austere and pleasurable. Devotees of Krishna minimise their personal sense gratification in order to render as much service to Krishna as possible. This service can be in the form of hearing, chanting or even just remembering the glories of the Lord, as well as many others. In the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says: 'As you surrender unto me, I shall reward you accordingly.'
"Krishna is very merciful to His sincere devotees, but also we have to remember that Maya is very strong. Therefore, we have to always be engaged in serving Krishna. At every moment we should be doing this or that service for Krishna's transcendental pleasure. If we do not remember this, then Maya is right there to grab us. It all depends upon our leaning towards Krishna or towards Maya. If you lean towards Krishna, you will be in Krishna Consciousness; and if you lean towards Maya, then you will be captivated by material nature. Krishna and Maya are just like light and shadow which are directly next to one another. If you move a little this way, you are in light and there is no question of shadow. But if you move a little the other way, you are in darkness. So if we remember to always be engaged in Krishna's service, then there will be no Maya and everything will be all right. Please always remember this great secret of advancement in Krishna Consciousness." - Shrila Prabhupada Letter, November 20, 1969
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