Hare Krsna,
It is important to understand that Krsna has given living entities a limited amount of independence and free will to decide what they want to do. He lets them act as they like and be responsible for their activities. In one sense, although the material world is created by Him, He did not do so for His own pleasure. He created it for our sense gratification and so-called illusory pleasure.
Constitutionally every individual soul is part and parcel of Krsna and a servant of Krsna.
jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya — kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa’
kṛṣṇera ‘taṭasthā–śakti’ ‘bhedābheda-prakāśa’
“It is the living entity’s constitutional position to be an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa because he is the marginal energy of Kṛṣṇa and a manifestation simultaneously one with and different from the Lord, like a molecular particle of sunshine or fire. (CC Madhya 20.108-109)
However due to the free will, some revolting souls want to be happy independently from God. Instead of being servants of the Lord, they want to be the master of the world. They want to lord it over the material nature. Instead of surrendering to Him and serving Him they are trying to get others to surrender to them and serve them. Constitutionally God is always God and servants are always servants of God. Servants cannot become God.
It is mentioned in the scriptures that at some point in the past, we were all in the spiritual world. Because we wanted to enjoy separately from Krsna, we fell down to this material world. We have a little independence and if we choose to try and be happy separate from Krsna there has to be somewhere for us to go. There is no question of being separate from Krsna in the spiritual world. Therefore, Krsna has created this material kingdom so we can become the false God here.
An often-cited example is a small girl who wants to imitate her mother in cooking. Because she is not mature enough to handle fire and cooking, the mother creates an imitation kitchen for her so that she can fulfill her desires. But that fake kitchen cannot give the girl any happiness and satisfaction because she cannot cook any real food. To satisfy her hunger, she has to go to her mother who has the real food. Similarly, Krsna has created this material world to enable us to fulfill our desire to “play God.” So, this material world is created by our desire, not Krsna’s desire.
We cannot be happy separate from Krsna. Our constitutional natural position is to serve Krsna. So even though there seems to be so many pleasurable things in the material world, none of them are truly satisfying. This is because we are spiritual by nature; therefore, no material pleasure can actually satisfy us.
Krsna is a very smart creator. In order to keep reminding the souls that this material world is illusory in nature and cannot give everlasting pleasure, he artificially added ‘defects’ in this material world. The defects are birth, death, old age, and disease. Krsna hopes that one day we will become so frustrated dealing with this defective material world that we will turn to Him and desire to return back to our real home.
Krishna confirms in the Bhagavad-gita (8.16) that this world is a place of misery where repeated birth and death are going on:
abrahma-bhuvanal lokah
punar avartino ‘rjuna
mam upetya tu kaunteya
punar janma na vidyate
“From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kunti, never takes birth again.”
Therefore, this material world, created to enable us to fulfill our desire to be “happy” separate from Krsna, is actually a place of misery where repeated birth and death take place. There is no happiness here. Happiness in this material world is illusory in nature. It is like a mirage in a desert. It seems there is water but there is no water to quench our thirst. Real happiness is in the spiritual world where everyone is engaged in their natural constitutional position as a servant of Krsna.
“My dear Lord, although it is not Your desire, You manifest this creation of gross and subtle elements just for our sensual satisfaction. Let Your causeless mercy be upon us, for You have appeared before us in Your eternal form, adorned with a splendid wreath of tulasī leaves.” (SB 3.21.20)
“It is clearly stated here that the material world is not created by the personal will of the Supreme Lord; it is created by His external energy because the living entities want to enjoy it. This material world is not created for those who do not want to enjoy sense gratification, who constantly remain in transcendental loving service and who are eternally Kṛṣṇa conscious. For them, the spiritual world is eternally existing, and they enjoy there…” (SB 3.21.20 P)
Krsna is so kind that from time to time He sends His bonafide representatives, and sometimes He Himself appears, to remind us that we are not meant to suffer in this material world. Our real home is in the abode of Krsna. Srila Prabhupada often write, “Back home, Back to Godhead.” This statement, although it sounds so simple, is very profound. He reminds us, “This is not your true home. Your real home is in the spiritual world where Krsna lives.”
“The Lord unwillingly creates this material world, but He descends in His personal form or sends one of His reliable sons or a servant or a reliable author like Vyāsadeva to give instruction. He Himself also instructs in His speeches of Bhagavad-gītā. This propaganda work goes on side by side with the creation to convince the misguided living entities who are rotting in this material world to come back to Him and surrender unto Him. Therefore the last instruction of Bhagavad-gītā is this: “Give up all your manufactured engagements in the material world and just surrender unto Me. I shall protect you from all sinful reactions.” (SB 3.21.20 P)
The easiest process to return back home, back to Godhead is to, somehow or other, think of Krsna at the time of death.
yam yam vapi smaran bhavam
tyajaty ante kalevaram
tam tam evaiti kaunteya
sada tad-bhava-bhavitah
“Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail.” (BG 8.6)
The easiest way to remember Krishna at the time of death is to organize our life in such a way that we can remember Krsna all the time. In this age the process particularly recommended is chanting the Hare Krishna maha mantra
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Krsna Katha 