And they lived happily ever after or did they ?

Often when offering a book to someone on Sankirtan, they may say ‘I am good’. I have often thought about this and wondered what makes people think they are good in material life – what could give this sense of comfort. Sometimes, at outreach engagements, people will debate the point about ‘happiness in the material world’. Think seriously – what’s the best material life can offer? What activities and options of endless joy, which is the real hankering of spirit soul, does material life offer? Srila Prabhupada summarizes it in a lecture on BG 4.18, April 7 1974 “Of course, in this material world there is no enjoyment. But with the hope of enjoyment, we agree to suffer. And that is called enjoyment.”
Still due to a lack of knowledge the goal of human life as understood by most people is money and attempts at sense gratification. How can one ever satisfy oneself without the knowledge of self, Supreme self and our loving connection with the Supreme self. Even if we seem to be successful at bagging the cheap thrills of material life – without knowledge and real experience of our loving connection with Krishna, it is good for nothing. Simply chewing the chewed can only grant bewilderment, not satisfaction – punah punah charvita charvanam(SB 7.5.30).

A recent article in Times of India, described how a young couple, in India’s dream vacation destination Goa, having lived an eventful life of sense gratification decided to end it. Their reason "We have lived a very eventful and happy life together. We've travelled the world, lived in different countries, made more money than we ever thought possible, and enjoyed spending as much of it as we could on things that brought us joy and satisfaction. We believe in the philosophy that our life belongs to us and only us, and we have the right to choose to die as much as we have the right to live."

They had lived the ‘materialistic dream’ but the end should make us think. Not only did they commit material suicide, they also lost the precious chance of human form of life. Without the knowledge of Bhagavad Gita little do people understand by that one push they hurled themselves, once again, into the abyss of repeated birth and death. So it is our duty, of course, as servant of Krishna, to awaken everyone to Krishna consciousness by this process of sankirtana movement