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

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

WOMANHOOD - UNDERSTOOD OR MISUNDERSTOOD? (A Tribute to all the women out there)

Being born in this world is not easy and being born as a woman is definitely not easy and being a chaste woman and trying to live a principle-centered life is definitely, definitely not easy. The struggles a woman goes through being a wife, raising children and running a family is many times beyond comprehension and very often, overlooked. Running an empire is easier than running a family. But probably the biggest challenge of womanhood is in being understood. Every woman looks for some man to empathize with her struggles and see her side of the picture. But instead of being understood, she is more often than not, misunderstood and exploited by the stronger sex.  One of the reason Lord Krishna appears in this world is to protect chaste ladies and teach a lesson to all those who try to exploit the innocent womenfolk. Krishna was born to help his helpless mother, Devaki who was being tortured by wicked Kamsa. Krishna cried seeing the suffering of Kunti Devi and s...
Post a Comment
Read more

RELAX YOUR WAY THROUGH LIFE

We all have problems in life, that's given but the question is - how do we deal with them? Generally when faced with difficulties, we panic and stress out, but this doesn't solve the problem rather aggravates it. The best way to deal with our problems is by being calm . How can one remain calm amidst problems? That's a question of practice. The point is unless we are calm we will not be able to see the problem for what it is, what to speak of solving it. Just like if a pond is agitated we can't see our reflection, similarly we can't see the obvious as long as our mind remains agitated. We always think that peace is obtained by solving our problems. That may be true but we forget that to solve our problems we need to be at peace first. This is something most of us don't get. By being calm and relaxed in face of a difficulty, we are placing ourselves in the mode of goodness and only in goodness can solutions come forth because the symptoms of the mode of g...
Post a Comment
Read more