Skip to main content

POSITIVE ABSORPTION

One of the greatest power a human mind has is the power of absorption. Absorption means to fully give ourselves to the task at hand, doing things wholeheartedly, with focus and attention. In fact a high sense of absorption means complete immersion - a kind of loosing oneself. Absorption is the key to true experience of life.

What is the subject matter of our absorption? For children it may be a favorite cartoon serial or an engaging video game. For teenagers it may be cricket or the latest blockbuster movie. For some the topic for absorption may be a new romantic relationship building in their life. Irrespective of the subject, this sense of absorption makes one feel exhilarated, the senses come fully alive and there seems a sense of purpose to live.


For many the subject of absorption is not the physical plane - the level of the senses but their own minds. People tend to be wrapped in their mental stories, their mental movies.

Problem with absorption in matter - in the life of the body and mind is two fold. One is that the experience never matches our expectations. In fact every happiness in the material plane is accompanied by misery. They are inseparable like the two sides of a coin. The other problem with material life is that it doesn't last long. It's like right when we seem to enjoy the movie the fullest, either the scene changes or it comes to an abrupt halt leaving us confused and disappointed.

According to science - a fact is a fact only if it remains true under all time, place and circumstances. With this definition in mind, the experiences of the body and mind are not facts because both the body and the mind are constantly changing. They are truths only for sometime. They are relative truths not the absolute truth. We will not be able to hold onto the experiences of the body and mind. They will invariably slip away from our hands just like a drop of water slips from a lotus leaf. If we revisit our past, consider all the ways in which we enjoyed our senses and mind and ask ourselves this question - what have I actually achieved by all this endeavor? Our innermost honest answer will be nothing - nothing tangible.

The only thing that is absolute truth, which never changes, which is always constant and is always with us is 'we ourselves' - our own consciousness. That is only thing that is truly ours, our true home. It is this place deep within the recess of our hearts where we can find actual refuge, shelter and love. The process to connect to this place of joy in our hearts is spirituality or Krishna consciousness.

But for the process of spiritual life to truly work in our lives we need to put our hearts in it, dive deep into it and develop absorption in the spiritual practices. Just imagine what our experience of chanting will be if we were fully absorbed in it, what will be our experience of reading scriptures with this kind of focus. Absorption is the key to spiritual experience also. The reason we feel spiritual life boring and monotonous is because we keep our heart away from the practices. Bhakti is after all an affair of the heart.

We all have the capacity for being absorbed. All we need to do is transfer our absorption from matter to spirit because after all matter doesn't matter, spirit does.

- Achyut Gopal Das

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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 ...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

MY EXPERIENCE AT MAURITIUS

I had the opportunity to visit Mauritius for a few days along with a few devotees from Goa. I am sharing my experience of being in this small island in the middle of the Indian Ocean for those who haven't had the opportunity to be here. Mauritius is very much like India or more specific, very much like Goa but it is definitely more beautiful than Goa.  THE BLUE ISLAND One of the most striking feature of this place that really stands out is the colour of the ocean here. The crystal blue, transparent, aqua, turquoise waters of it's ocean has the power to mesmerize anyone. No wonder, why people from all over the world flock to this island for recreation. God's wonders are just amazing. How He creates so many different oceans with so many different colours and shades. Speaking of the wonder of God, another wonder of this island is that at different places in this small island, the temperature and the climate is different. It is called micro-climate. ...
Post a Comment
Read more