Vivekachudamani 40

katham tareyam bhavasindhumetam
ka va gatirme katamo'styupayah |
jane na kiñcitkrpaya'va mam prabho
samsara dukha ksatimatanusva ||
(Sankaracarya's Vivekachudamani 40)

1. How to cross this ocean of worldly existence?
2. What is to be my ultimate destination?
3. Which of the many means should I adopt?
I know nothing of these. O, Lord! Save me and describe in all details how to end the misery of this earthly existence.

In this verse Guru Sankaracarya asking a few important questions. Those questions are specially meant for us. We are the most fallen souls in this material world. Such an elevated soul like Sankaracarya crying for liberation, what about us? Sometimes it is funny we are just doing little pious activities and we are living with the ego that we will get easy liberation.

By the grace of a real guru, one can cross the ocean of material suffering and obtain the mercy of the Supreme Lord. But in this material world. Anyonya-vairah: Everyone is simply envious of one another. This is the material world: I am envious of you; you are envious of me. You can extend this principle to family, society, community, and nation, but the basic principle is enviousness, nothing else.

We are forced to suffer here because we have been placed in this material world, which creates a condition of suffering. Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita (7.14) daivi hy esha gunamayi mama maya duratyaya: "This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome." People have manufactured ugra-karma—"horrible works"—for the annihilation of this world. Russia has a nuclear weapon, and the Americans too. They are looking for the opportunity to drop the bomb here and there, and everything will be destroyed. People do not know the aim of life. They engage in ugra-karma and create enmity.

Supreme Destination Is For All

One should be willing to go back home, back to Godhead and take shelter particularly, which means his representative. Such a person can be elevated. Prahlada Maharaja said, "My Lord, I do not wish to go back to home, back to Godhead alone. I want to take all of them who are godless or not a devotee. I want to take it. Unless I educate them on how to go back to Godhead, I alone am not prepared to..." This is Prahlada. Para-duhkha-duhkhi krpambudhir yah. A pure devotee means for himself he has no problem, but he is very, very, I mean, morose, by seeing others in distressed condition without Bhagavad Dharma. Going back to the Supreme Lord is the destination for all. Not as other religions preach about cheap hell and heaven.

3. Which of the many means should I adopt?

Simply chant the holy name of the Lord without fail and always remember him in our mind. To remember and chant his name one should practice this every day. Ambrisha maharaj was able to control his senses because of the following qualifications, as mentioned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (9.4.18-20):

sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor
vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane
karau harer mandira-mārjanādiṣu
śrutiṁ cakārācyuta-sat-kathodaye
mukunda-liṅgālaya-darśane dṛśau
tad-bhṛtya-gātra-sparśe 'ṅga-saṅgamam
ghrāṇaṁ ca tat-pāda-saroja-saurabhe
śrīmat-tulasyā rasanāṁ tad-arpite
pādau hareḥ kṣetra-padānusarpaṇe
śiro hṛṣīkeśa-padābhivandane
kāmaṁ ca dāsye na tu kāma-kāmyayā
yathottama-śloka-janāśrayā ratiḥ

"King Ambarīṣa fixed his mind on the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa, engaged his words in describing the abode of the Lord, his hands in cleansing the temple of the Lord, his ears in hearing the pastimes of the Lord, his eyes in seeing the form of the Lord, his body in touching the body of the devotee, his nostrils in smelling the flavor of the flowers offered to the lotus feet of the Lord, his tongue in tasting the tulasī leaves offered to Him, his legs in traveling to the holy place where His temple is situated, his head in offering obeisances unto the Lord, and his desires in fulfilling the desires of the Lord... and all these qualifications made him fit to become a mat-para devotee of the Lord."