Skip to main content

AGENTS OF CHANGE

The first chapter of Bhagvad-Gita is entitled 'Observing the armies on the battlefield of Kurukshetra'. This chapter is all about Arjuna seeing the world through his eyes, interpreting the situation according to what he thinks is right. The result - confusion and stress. This the turning point in his life, where he surrenders to Krishna and asks Him for guidance. Lord Krishna then starts to speak the timeless wisdom of the Bhagvad-Gita only to give Arjuna the right vision.

If we honestly glance into our hearts, we will come to the same conclusion that Arjuna came to - that observing life through our present perceptions has not helped us, we still feel unhappy and incomplete. We probably need a change of lenses, a vision change. 

That's exactly what the Bhagvad-Gita does for us. It helps us change our vision from "What I think is correct" to "What is actually correct", it helps us change from saying "Let my will be done" to "Oh Lord, let Thy will be done", it helps us change our attitude from that of "I am a competitor to God's plan" to "I am a co-operator to God's plan". In simple words Bhagvad-Gita helps us to make this shift from seeing the world through our eyes to seeing the world through God's eyes. That's why it so important to regularly read and understand the  scriptures to clearly know without ambiguity what God expects of us, what is His plan for us.

It is explained that there are four kinds of servants -
  1. One who instead of serving the master, takes service from him.
  2. One who does what is told to him but with a lot of mistakes.
  3. One who does what is told to him perfectly.
  4. One who knows the heart of his master and does it even before being asked
Which of these four do you think pleases the master the most. Naturally, the last one - one who understands the mood and mission of His master and makes it his own. Such a servant naturally gains more trust of the master and is entrusted with more responsibilities. Similarly the Supreme Lord becomes very pleased and dearly loves that person who is ready to align himself with His desires. Such a person is chosen to be His instrument of compassion in this world.  

What the world badly needs is people who are ready to be instruments of God's compassion and love in this world. The world needs people who have changed their vision from passion to compassion, from selfishness to selflessness, from impurity of mind to purity of mind. 

It is said that - the biggest problem in this world is hunger - not hunger of the belly but hunger of the heart. Both the rich and the poor are equally hungry. And the only thing that can satisfy the hunger of the heart is God's love.

The question is are we ready to be instruments of God's love in this world, are we ready to be agents of change? If yes, then we first need to BE THE CHANGE WE WANT TO SEE IN THIS WORLD.

- Achyut Gopal Das

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

THE POWER OF QUESTIONS

The quality of answers in our life depends on quality of questions we ask. Special prerogative of the human mind is that it can think and ask questions. Given a problem, we have the ability to find solutions. The ability for making inquiries is in-built in us. That's why one of the most important medium of knowledge comes through questions and answers. It's not astonishing then to understand why both the most important Vedic scriptures - the Bhagvat-Gita and the Srimad-Bhagvatam are in a question-answer format. But not everyone is interested to ask questions and find solutions to problems that they face. Most people prefer to embrace a life of unthinking - "of playing dead", they prefer to run away from problems rather than find solutions to them. Why? For the simple fact that the answers - the truth may not always be palatable and the more difficult part is that, it may be demanding of us. We may have to leave our comfort zone and tread an unknown path. The e...

WHO IS YOUR DEAR DEER?

"Oh Lord, please transfer the attraction I have towards the objects of this world to You." We all know the story of King Bharat from Srimad-bhagvatam who became attached to a baby deer, so much so that, he forgot to perform devotional service to The Supremely Dear Lord. Thus, his attachment and attraction to The Dear Lord was replaced by his newfound attachment and attraction to this deer. This deer became his dear deer. The result - in his next life, he was born as a baby deer. Lord Krishna explains in Bhagvat-gita 8.6 yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram taṁ tam evaiti kaunteya sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ "Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, O son of Kuntī, that state he will attain without fail." Krishna in this verse explains that our next life depends on the object that is dear to us in this life. Or, in the context of the example of King Bharat, our next life depends on who is our deer in t...

THE JOURNEY OF EXCELLENCE TO EXCELLENCE

" We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. "   - Aristotle I generally don't like to speak about myself, I am a very shy person in that sense. But here, I would like to share a small story from my life just to make an important point. You see, most lessons we need to learn are stored in our past, we just need to visit it once in a while to refresh the lessons learnt without getting caught up in it. THE EXPERIENCE OF EXCELLENCE I started chanting 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra and became committed to spiritual life, towards the end of my 11th std. This was way back in 1999. During this time, there were few dozen devotees in ISKCON, all over Goa. When I entered 12th std, I decided to focus fully on my studies and top the college. I thought, this would be the best way to preach to all my friends - by showing them how spiritual life helps one achieve success in life. And, it was also the best way to protect my spiritual life ami...