A DEVOTEE OF SUBSTANCE

By changing our externals our internals is not going to change. By wearing dhoti - kurta, our desires are not going to change. By wearing a Vaishnava tilak, our desires are not going to change. Yes, the external appearance of a devotee is an important aspect of Bhakti and it does have some effect on our consciousness but it is not the all in all of being a devotee. The real challenge is to bring changes from within.

Donning the dress of a devotee externally is difficult but not that difficult - the real difficultly is in donning the attire of a devotee internally because who we are is not a product of our externals but our internals. God doesn't see our externals, He is more interested in our internals. The world may be impressed with the externals but God is impressed only by the internals. A devotee is not a person of form but a person of substance. Our internals change not by changing our externals but by working on changing our internals.

- Achyut Gopal Das

Comments

HEART PAIN to SOUL GAIN - the panacea for broken hearts

"When love is lost, do not bow your head in sadness; instead, keep your head up high and gaze into Heaven for that is where your broken heart has been sent to heal." I am sure all of you'll have experienced a feeling of being let down by someone whom you loved and trusted, a feeling of heartbreak, a feeling of pain when people whom you loved didn't reciprocate back to leave you broken. This world is such that instances like these keep happening now and then. Sometimes they are intentional but many times unintentional. That's the nature of this world. Just like a forest fire sets off without anyone igniting it similarly, misunderstandings and heartbreaks happen even without intentionally creating them . In any case, these heart-pains leave their scar deep in our hearts. We all know and have experienced that the pain of the heart, emotional pain is more difficult to tolerate than physical pain. For physical pain, you can apply a balm or a band-aid or take painkill...

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 ...

STEP OUT to STEP UP

Don't live the same day over and over again and call that a life. Life is about evolving mentally, spiritually and emotionally . - Germany Kent We all have our own comfort zones which we don't want to leave. Why? Because life is very predictable and set according to our convenience. "Why should you leave all this to embrace a life of risk, unpredictability and inconvenience", reasons the mind. This may be true but it also true that life without challenges is not life at all - it is just survival. We are born not to survive but to thrive. Thrive means growth and growth means the growth process. And the growth process is always not easy but the result is always amazing. THE PROCESS OF GROWTH Just like a caterpillar goes through a struggle to come out of the cocoon, but that struggle, that growth, transforms it into the most beautiful butterfly similarly coming out of our cocoon of comfort may be difficult but the fruits are exceedingly wonderful. Or just li...

The Wisdom Park

Search This Blog