Skip to main content

CHANNELISING MIND'S CURIOSITY

We all have heard the saying "The grass looks greener on the other side". The mind by nature is never satisfied, always looking for "what others have that I don't have". It is always curious to find newer and newer ways of enjoyment and material nature seems to understand our mind by offering us unlimited varieties to enjoyment. There seems to be no end to the fascinations that are available in this world.

Why is the mind always looking for newer ways to enjoy? Because it soon gets bored of what it has. It looks for release from this boredom through newer experiences. But the problem is that as soon as we get the new experience that we are looking for, it's not a long till that also becomes old and boring.


The point we miss to understand is that "the newness that material nature provides in its variegated forms are all the same oldness packaged in new ways." As they say - Old wine in a new bottle. But we never really believe this fully. The mind keeps dangling the carrot of so called happiness in front of us - "One more thing, one more car, more one country to see, then I will be happy", that's what it promises us and we foolishly subscribe to its promise. But once you get that one, it will show you one more thing. There is never end to this "one more". In this way the mind keeps us endlessly stuck until we escape out of this loop. The mind over promises but under delivers.

Lord Krishna confirms this truth in the Bhagvat-gita 8.16, by saying - abrahma bhuvanal loka punar avartanio arjuna... "That right from the highest planet in the material world to the lowest all are the same, all are places of misery."

We inadvertently equate the quality of our life to the container we have, not to the content inside the container. We are hoping that by changing our container - by getting a better job, a better house, a better car, we will be happy. What we forget is how many ever containers we change, our experience will be the same until we change the content inside the containers. 

That's the reason all great saints and sages from all over the world advise us to look for happiness in spiritual life. Materially we can never be fully happy. Happiness is not an outside-in job as we think it to be, it is an inside-out job. We have been fascinated by God's energy for so long and have been cheated, so why not be try to be fascinated by God Himself. Just imagine if God's energy is so fascinating, how much fascinating God Himself will be.

Let's try to dovetail the curious nature of the mind from matter to spirit, from external to internal, from 'this worldly' to 'other worldly', from Maya to Krishna. Let's be curious to find out - what is happening in the spiritual world, what will be the consciousness of a pure devotee, what kind of love they will be experiencing, how will life be to look through the eyes of a pure devotee!

One tiny glimpse of true spiritual experience will make unlimited material experiences seem pale and insignificant, just like drinking one glass of water while awake is more satisfying than drinking liters of water in a dream.

- Achyut Gopal Das

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

POWER OF A BOOK

" Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light. " — Vera Nazarian Here is a simple yet powerful story which shows the world "the power of a book". This is a real life story of two boys named Richie and Willy which happened during the 1970's, in the city of California. One day while walking on the streets of California, Richie bumped across the Hare Krishna devotees and one of the devotees convinced him to buy a magazine that they were selling. He bought it reluctantly more for his friend, Willly than himself because he knew that Willy was more spiritual then he was. He bought the magazine and ran to the house of Willy to give him that magazine. But on that day, Willy had locked himself in his room and was meditating and praying to God that his true path in life be revealed; little did he know that his prayer was going to be answered on this day in a very unusual way. Richie was knocking the door and telling Willy,...
1 comment
Read more

LIVING WITH THE END IN MIND

“ If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right. ” Two months ago, I had visited a small town in South India for a few days. As I was on my way to this place from the airport, a funeral procession carrying a dead body crossed right in front of me. Just halfway through my stay, as I was sitting beside a shop, out of the blue another death procession crossed inches away from me. What's more interesting is, as I was leaving this town another death procession crossed my way. I was thinking - "Oh God, what is the message for me!". The story doesn't end here, as I reached Goa, a friend of mine who came to pick me up gave me another news of the departure of one of our congregation member's mother-in-law. That same night, another elderly congregation lady and a close college friend of mine passed away. The message was very clear - Death can come at any moment. The story doesn't stop here either - the news of death keeps happen...
Post a Comment
Read more

PRACTICAL TOOLS FOR DESIRE MANAGEMENT

“I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of, so they can see that it’s not the answer.” ― Jim Carrey, American - Canadian actor Long back, I heard this analogy to explain the nature of the unlimited desires in our hearts. It is explained in this analogy that, even if all the water bodies in earth are made into ink to fill a pen whose nib is as small as an atom and the sky is made into paper to write on; the ink will get exhausted, the nib will break and the paper will run-out but our list of desires will not get over - we will still have more left. Over these years of spiritual practices, I have realized the truth behind this analogy. I have become more aware of the dynamics of desires and it's working in life. Even though our hearts are filled with unlimited desires, luckily just a few jump into awareness every now and then, just like a few fish jump out of the surface of the ocean every now and then even though the ocean is filled with u...
1 comment
Read more