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

LIVING WITH THE END IN MIND

“ If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right. ” Two months ago, I had visited a small town in South India for a few days. As I was on my way to this place from the airport, a funeral procession carrying a dead body crossed right in front of me. Just halfway through my stay, as I was sitting beside a shop, out of the blue another death procession crossed inches away from me. What's more interesting is, as I was leaving this town another death procession crossed my way. I was thinking - "Oh God, what is the message for me!". The story doesn't end here, as I reached Goa, a friend of mine who came to pick me up gave me another news of the departure of one of our congregation member's mother-in-law. That same night, another elderly congregation lady and a close college friend of mine passed away. The message was very clear - Death can come at any moment. The story doesn't stop here either - the news of death keeps happen...
Post a Comment
Read more

PRACTICAL TOOLS FOR DESIRE MANAGEMENT

“I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of, so they can see that it’s not the answer.” ― Jim Carrey, American - Canadian actor Long back, I heard this analogy to explain the nature of the unlimited desires in our hearts. It is explained in this analogy that, even if all the water bodies in earth are made into ink to fill a pen whose nib is as small as an atom and the sky is made into paper to write on; the ink will get exhausted, the nib will break and the paper will run-out but our list of desires will not get over - we will still have more left. Over these years of spiritual practices, I have realized the truth behind this analogy. I have become more aware of the dynamics of desires and it's working in life. Even though our hearts are filled with unlimited desires, luckily just a few jump into awareness every now and then, just like a few fish jump out of the surface of the ocean every now and then even though the ocean is filled with u...
1 comment
Read more

POWER OF A BOOK

" Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light. " — Vera Nazarian Here is a simple yet powerful story which shows the world "the power of a book". This is a real life story of two boys named Richie and Willy which happened during the 1970's, in the city of California. One day while walking on the streets of California, Richie bumped across the Hare Krishna devotees and one of the devotees convinced him to buy a magazine that they were selling. He bought it reluctantly more for his friend, Willly than himself because he knew that Willy was more spiritual then he was. He bought the magazine and ran to the house of Willy to give him that magazine. But on that day, Willy had locked himself in his room and was meditating and praying to God that his true path in life be revealed; little did he know that his prayer was going to be answered on this day in a very unusual way. Richie was knocking the door and telling Willy,...
1 comment
Read more