Skip to main content

LEARNING THE LANGUAGE OF "NEEDS"

 
Before the lockdown, I never wanted to stay in the ashram throughout the day. I always wanted to go out and do programs or meet people. I always felt that I am "on the move guy" and always wanted action. Now after the lockdown period and being at ashram for quite sometime, I must confess that I have begun to love staying here. I guess once the lockdown opens, it will be difficult for me to move out. I was reflecting on how our mind functions. The situation that was not all to my liking has now become most likable. The mind after all gets adjusted to whatever the situation is. It keeps constantly fluctuating between likes and dislikes without any rationale. Probably, that's the reason sages and scriptures warn us not to trust our minds. We can't take it's thinking, feeling and willing too seriously. 

Even though the mind has no rationale, there is another rationale which we need to understand. That is the rationale of "our needs". This is the reason why am I happy now, even amidst this lockdown. I realized that my need was not to move out of the ashram but my need was to preach and be engaged in some productive way. Now that, I can get to do online classes and preach even being put up in one place only, I am happy. Once, we connect to what our needs are then, we can find a way to fulfill our needs even in different circumstances. Understanding the language of our needs is so important if we want to be happy and peaceful in world filled with changing circumstances. There is always a way to fulfill our needs if we are just open and flexible. We should be attached to the principle of understanding our needs and fulfilling them but we should be detached from the ways in which we fulfill this principle of fulfilling our needs.

- Achyut Gopal Das

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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...

SIMPLE LIVING & HIGH THINKING or SIMPLY LIVING & HARDLY THINKING

I came to stay in our ISKCON Vasco ashram for a while. I bought only one pair of dhoti - kurta other than what I was wearing thinking that I will keep going back and forth to our Panjim ashram, where I usually stay. But, it so happened that I didn't get any chance of going to Panjim for the last 20 days and somehow, I didn't find the need for it too. I guess, I have learnt to happily manage with just two pairs of dhoti - kurta. It was quite a revelation for me - that it is possible to be happy with less. Life is actually so simple but we unnecessarily complicate it with "unnecessary wants" which we think are "necessary needs ". Simple instances like this, makes us realize the meaning of the above statement. Many years ago, I had heard a saying which goes like this - reduce your wants and feel like a King or increase your wants and feel like a beggar . Isn't it so true and meaningful? Life is meant to be lived in such a way that our material necessitie...

HEROES OF COMPASSION

"To show compassion to others in this world is the greatest way of pleasing the Supreme Lord." - Radhanath Swami. Compassion is one of the core quality of a civilized and a refined person. And for a spiritual practitioner who wants to experience higher levels of consciousness and please the Supreme Consciousness, the quality of compassion is of utmost importance. Compassion is defined in the Oxford dictionary as "a strong feeling of sympathy for people who are suffering and a desire to help them." In the Sanskrit language, compassion is denoted by several words - daya, karuna, kripa. Chankaya Pandit, one of the greatest scholars of India mentions that "the ability to see other's suffering as one's own" (aatmavat manyate jagat) as one of the main characteristics of one in knowledge. In the same mood, the Vaishnava acharyas define a devotee as "one who becomes sad seeing the sadness of others" (para dukha dukhi) . If we study the Vedi...