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

TIME TO WAKE UP

"jīv jāgo, jīv jāgo, gauracānda bole kota nidrā jāo māyā-piśācīra kole" "Lord Gauranga is calling, "Wake up, sleeping souls! Wake up, sleeping souls! How long will you sleep in the lap of the witch called Maya?" - from a song by Bhaktivinode Thakur. When someone is fast asleep and he needs to woken up, there are two ways to do it. One is "a soft way" and the other, is "the hard way". The soft way is by making a sound or by ringing an alarm and the hard way is by shaking the person up till he wakes up. If the soft way doesn't work then one has to incorporate the hard way. Similarly, there are two ways in which we, the sleeping souls are woken up from our slumber of ignorance and illusion. The first and the soft way is when we wake up from illusion by hearing the sound of the truth, the sound of God, either in the form of His message or in the form of His Holynames. This sound vibration is called "shabda-bra...
Post a Comment
Read more

MAKE IT A POINT TO MAKE THE POINT

A few days ago, as I was traveling on the ferry that takes us to our ISKCON Center at Chodan island, a relatively young man approached me and started to talk to me. My Vaishnava (devotee) attire probably attracted him to me. He was asking me if I was a preist in a temple. To which I said "Yes". I asked him where he stays and what he does. He told me that he stays in Panjim and runs a chicken shop in Porvorim. I asked him his name and as I guessed, he happened to be a Muslim. I could see marks of dried up blood stains in different places in his shirt. I at once told him to try to switch his profession to one which involves less violence. I suggested to him to start a vegetable or a grocery shop.  He seemed to be taken a little aback by what might have appeared to him to be a stange suggestion by a stranger. I told him that killing innocent animals is not right. They too have life and feelings like us. He was hearing me out. He then asked me, if one can eat chicken ...
Post a Comment
Read more

PREPARING OUR MINDS & HEARTS FOR 2020

Take sometime to think about all the things you wanted to do in 2019 and is still undone.   Think about the state of your mental and emotional well-being at the end of 2019. Are you happy about it or do you want to change it for good as you enter 2020? Think about the spiritual advancement you have made in 2019. Do you think you could have advanced much more than you presently have?   How do you want to see yourself placed at the end of 2020   Let these questions act as catalysts and springboard for our thought process so that, we enter the year 2020 with razor sharp focus, unwavering clarity, passionate purpose and unending zeal to upgrade every aspect of our life like never before, break all dis empowering barriers that are holding us down and thus make 2020 a hallmark year in the journey of our life.
Post a Comment
Read more