Skip to main content

LOSING ONESELF TO GAIN ONESELF

The theory of oneness with God is something that is not very appealing to Vaishnavas, in fact it is the one thing that they vehemently oppose. But the oneness I am talking is not about loosing our soul - it's about gaining it.

Losing oneself in any activity means to fully absorb ourselves into it or as they say, "to get into it fully". In the pages of the Srimad Bhagvatam there is mention of an Avadhoot Brahman who had 24 gurus. One of his guru was an arrow maker. This arrow maker was so absorbed in sharpening his arrow that he didn't even recognize the entourage of the King passing by. The Brahman learnt the quality of absorption from this arrow maker.


If there is one word that is of utmost importance in spiritual life - it is ABSORPTION. In order to truly experience happiness in spiritual life, we need to fully absorb ourselves into the practice - kind of forget our present identity. We identify with so many things that we are not - our various aspects and roles in this life. We identify so much with our present body and mind that we forget that our true identity is spiritual. At least while we do our daily sadhana especially our chanting of the holynames, we need to put aside all our so called designations in order to get maximum benefit from the process. Just like when we enter a temple we keep our footwear outside and enter, similarly when we enter into our spiritual practices we need to keep all the temporary ego designations aside and enter it with our true ego - as servants of God.

We all know that the Charam-sloka or the ultimate verse of the Bhagavad-Gita is - sarva dharman parityajya, mam ekam saranam vraja.....BG 18.66, wherein Lord Krishna pleads all of us to surrender all varieties religion and duty and surrender unto Him. Surrendering to Lord Krishna on a practical level actually means that while we chant His holynames, we keep all other duties aside to be fully available in body, mind and heart to recieve Him in His most merciful incarnation as the Holyname.

It is explained that when Lord Shiva closes his eyes to enter into his meditation on The Supreme Lord, he gets so absorbed in it that he opens his eyes only after 60000 years. He basically losses track of time, the world around and himself. We can't imitate great souls, that is clear but the minimum we can do is in deference to our chanting of our prescribed rounds we can put off both our external and internal worlds. Let everything wait and it has to wait because it's time to gain our immortal soul - our very self.

In summary, losing oneself to gain oneself means completely surrendering oneself to the process of Krishna consciousness and to give up the false self to gain our real self.

- Achyut Gopal Das

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

REQUEST TO & FROM A MOTHER

  Today on the occasion of Mother's Day, I went to meet the cow, our mother to wish her for Mother's Day and make a request to her. I requested her to shower her blessings and mercy on her children who are suffering so badly due to the deadly covid virus. The good news for all of us is that, she mercifully agreed to shower her heartfelt blessings, prayers, mercy on all her children. After all, that's the heart of a mother - always wanting and desiring best for her children. I was elated, my mission accomplished - now, the suffering of humanity will reduce. As I was leaving, the cow also had one personal request. She requested me with tears in her eyes to request her children not to abuse, exploit and slaughter her mercilessly. I could literally feel her pain and suffering as she made this request. This was the pain of a mother. Tears swelled up in my eyes. I didn't know what to reply her. I did tell her that I will pass on her request to her other children and I walked ...
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

A RADHASHTAMI MEDITATION

Jai Sri Radhe!! Is the chant on everyone's minds and hearts now. Atleast in the minds and hearts of devotees. It's time to celebrate the most auspicious of auspicious festivals; it's time to celebrate Sri Radhashtami - the appearance day of Srimati Radharani. For devotees, Radhashtami is a more important festival than Janmashtami. Why? Because for the world Krishna is God but for devotees, Radha is God because they know that Krishna is subservient to the love of Radha. In our ISKCON circle, it is said that - Janmashtami is a public event but Radhashtami is a private event for only devotees who understand the supreme position of Srimati Radharani. On the most auspicious occasion of Radhashtami, I would like to bring to your attention a beautiful meditation that His Holiness Bhakti Tirtha Swami wrote many years back on this occasion called "An offering for the Divine Mother". The best prayer is to repeat the prayer of previous realized, great souls. Keeping thi...
Post a Comment
Read more