Fall In Love, Become the One in a Million

Very few souls take to the path of pure unmotivated loving devotional service to God. This is because the gross or subtle egoistic disposition of the typical soul of this world prevents him/her from whole heartedly serving someone whom he/she considers "someone else". The typical soul wants to serve himself or those closely related to him materially.

This false ego is the fundamental reason for souls being averse to God. Once one understands that God is actually his most intimate relation, the path of pure devotional service to Him opens up. This understanding is the defining characteristic of the true ego, or in other words, the soul's true identify and relationship.

Thus, it is not surprising that most people serve something other than God. They see things as related to themselves, rather than seeing themselves as related to God. So much so, that even other spiritual paths focus on one's own liberation from matter, than on reviving one's relationship with God. This is the extent to which the egoistic disposition denies the soul it's true glory of being a loving servant of God.

The heart yearns for love, and true love is not found in this world of limits. To escape this fact, other spiritualists seek to reach a state of oneness or nothingness wherein the yearning for love stops. This is akin to the desperate suicide attempt of a heart-broken lover, and is born out of ignorance of the complete nature of spiritual nature.

God is our eternal friend and the worthy object of the heart's yearning for eternal love. Break your internal ego barriers - grossest to the subtlest, and fall in love. Are you the one in a million?

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http://www.vedabase.com/en/bg/7/3

Bg 7.3

manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu
kaścid yatati siddhaye
yatatām api siddhānāṁ
kaścin māṁ vetti tattvataḥ

Synonyms: 

manuṣyāṇām — of men; sahasreṣu — out of many thousands; kaścit — someone; yatati — endeavors; siddhaye — for perfection; yatatām — of those so endeavoring; api — indeed; siddhānām — of those who have achieved perfection; kaścit — someone; mām — Me; vetti — does know; tattvataḥ — in fact.

Translation: 

Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.

Insignificance - A Significant Mlestone

To realize one's utter insignificance is a critical milestone in life. It opens up significant opportunities for us to connect to something truly grand and important. This realization can come at any stage of our life, and come multiple times, each time helping us realize the majesty of something else that is truely magnificent.

The typical society encourages one to believe and imagine that we are very special and significant. That's what the self centred small mind wants to believe. Break free from the shackles of the petty mind. Connect with the Supreme.

The Sun or the Sunlight?

There is a common misconception that the absolute truth is impersonal energy because if it were a person it would have a form which by definition is limited. Since the absolute truth is unlimited, it must be impersonal formless energy.

Yes, a finite form is limited in space. But an impersonal all-pervading energy is limited in functions of intelligence, control, personality, and reciprocation. One cannot talk to energy, nor exchange affection with it. Energy in itself cannot control things, and so on. Therefore the absolute truth must have both personal and impersonal aspects.

The sun has a form, but its energies pervade much more space than it's form. That doesn't mean that the energies of the sun are more important than the sun. The sun and sunlight have no meaning without each other, in other words, they together are the sun, but the sun is clearly the basis.

Instead of being one or the other, the absolute truth is a person along with his unlimited energies together. The absolute truth person is the source, basis, and the ultimate controller of all energies.

The Emptiness Quotient

The emptiness of our life can be measured by the time we spend transfixed by the grip of Facebook and WhatsApp.

The mind's nature is to run behind the next thing that comes along, and the senses follow the mind. WhatsApp and Facebook provide an unending stream of things to run after, dragging the senses in all directions. How then will the mind get steady?

A serious student of yoga should use his senses - eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and touch - very deliberately and not engage them with anything and everything that comes along.

The mind can be controlled by giving it a goal and using the intelligence to guide it in that direction. Choose a worthy goal and fill your life with purpose and satisfaction.

What is your emptiness quotient today?

The Hallmark of Perfect Spirituality

Spiritual life starts with Sadhana - regulated practices under the guidance of an authentic spiritual teacher for purifying the mind and increasing our attachment to the Supreme. In it's maturity, spiritual life goes beyond regulations into the realm of constant spontaneous engagement. Regulation is required to deliberately engage the mind in spiritual ways when the mind is not completely spiritualised. But when the mind is fully attached to the supreme, it never wanders into non-spiritual or anti-spiritual thoughts.

Ironically, the spiritually perfect people never shun their regulations thinking that they have gone beyond them and become perfect. This is because spiritual perfection is symptomised by extreme humility where one thinks oneself as the most incompetent spiritualist.

Being humble, the true spiritualist has eternal gratitude for the spiritual master and continues to follow the regulations laid down by him, never thinking that he can ever go beyond them. This also sets the proper example for others.

On the other hand, an imperfect spiritualist falls prey to his mind and ego's desires to become perfect and starts thinking that he has become perfect. So he artificially leaves spiritual regulations and starts living by the dictations of the mind thinking himself to be beyond regulations. This causes other immature people to shun regulations as well and lead an arbitrary lifestyle falsely thinking that it is spiritual.

The most fundamental and essential regulation of spiritual life is to chant the Holy Names of God under the guidance of an authentic spiritual teacher. By garnering all our humility, we should take time out, sit at one place, and daily chant the Holy Names on a rosary (chanting beads) a fixed minimum number of times. During chanting, we should not let our mind wander to anything else. Taking exclusive time out daily for chanting and chanting specifically on beads sitting at one place as instructed by the spiritual teacher are expressions of desire to become a humble servant of the Holy Name. Our spiritual advancement and sustenance depends almost wholly on our sincerity and humility in chanting the Holy Names.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

In this world, spiritual perfection is not about being regulation-less. The mark of a true spiritualist is that he not only follows spiritual practices sincerely, but also dedicates his life to the spiritual upliftment of all others. This spontaneous intense compassion for others, in the specific form of teaching spiritual life to others or setting the perfect example of humility, merely as an instrument of the spiritual teacher and God, is the hallmark of a perfect spiritualist.

Proud of being Wrong

Many times we do what we do, not because it's the best option, but only because our mind craves for it. What's more, choosing the sub-optimal option makes us feel independent - why should I follow someone else's opinion? I am free to choose my way of life. I will decide for myself - always. Thus, it's just egotism that controls our decisions, not timeless wisdom. And we are proud of it.

This false sense of ego and bloated sense of importance about one's own opinion makes us deaf to any principles that are higher than the ones we currently follow. Tragically, we even deride higher principles because they don't comply to our own sense of right and wrong.

It takes a humble disposition to open our minds to sincerely try to understand potentially higher principles even if they go against our current sensibilities.

Do you have the courage to change, no matter what age you are?

The Bhagavad Gita - Fundamental Vedic Principles

The Bhagavad Gita is the essential summary of all Vedic literature. To follow a message that is not supported by the Bhagavad Gita is like rejecting fundamental Vedic principles. Do that at your own risk.

Giving Respect

Expecting respect from others, even subtly, burdens our heart and complicates our lives. Giving all respects to others, no matter who it is, lightens our heart and simplifies our lives.

Quality of Living

Life is about what you do daily, not about where and in which condition you are.

Conditions of life, e.g. how much money you have, where your house is, how you look, your social stature, your job, etc. are all external. You might not have full control on these externals.

But what you do daily in all conditions of life reflects your internal state and the quality of your life.

Standard of living and quality of living are two different things. The former is an index of the conditions of life, while the latter is about what you do in life.

Beyond a certain point, increase in the standard of living ceases to bring in any improvements in life's quality. And yet the whole world seems to be impressed by and running after high living standards.

A worthy purpose shoots up the quality of our life. It guides our daily activities, values, and commitments. It minimises the position of standard of living from our minds.

The higher our purpose, the higher the quality of life. A purpose about something that is ultimately temporary can't be the highest. Embrace the eternal, and live life fully.

Keep the Faith

Most humans do not vehemently deny the existence of God. Most of even those who want to stay away from talks about God don't actively speak against God. Of course there are some who are vehement.

As a human being who has not started taking active interest in God, but who is not vehemently opposed to Him, it's a good practice to avoid hearing or doing things that retards one's faith in God. Faith in God only helps if it rests on a proper philosophical understanding that shuns both sentimentalism and fanaticism.

With our hearts open, gradually, drop by drop, enriched with life experiences, our enhanced faith will usher us into taking an active interest in God and His sublime teachings.

Why deny ourselves the most inspiring of all human experiences? Keep the faith.

Life Before Death

Life After Death is a popular topic with varying opinions about its possibility. But what about life before death? What characterizes life? The answer to this question heavily influences our opinion about the possibility of life after death. And in fact, it decisively influences our definition of death too.

If life is just about pumping of the heart and activity of the brain, then absence of these two can be called death. But life is more than the functioning of an electro-chemical mechanical system; life is about consciousness – about thinking, feeling, desiring. Life is about the ability to perceive. Consciousness is what differentiates a man from a machine, a live human from a dead one.

No characteristic of matter (atoms, molecules, electrons, etc.) suggests that it can be the source of consciousness or the seat of perception. What, or who is it, that perceives or is conscious? For example, a periscope helps me see beyond a high wall, but I can see not because of the periscope, but because I have eyes that can see. The periscope is merely the medium through which the light rays are reaching my eyes. Similarly, the eyes of my body are merely the arrangements of atoms that allow light to pass through. I see what I see, not because of the atomic arrangement of my eyes, but because I have the ability to perceive and make sense of the incoming light.

That I is the soul. I can see, hear, feel, think, will, etc. only because I (the soul) have these abilities. These perceptive abilities that characterize consciousness are the inherent qualities of the soul. Since matter does not have these abilities, we understand that the soul is unlike matter. The soul is non-material, it is spiritual.

The soul does not depend on matter for its fundamental abilities of perception. In fact, its fundamental abilities to perceive are conditioned by the nature and state of the body that it occupies. For example, going back to the periscope example, how well I can see beyond the high wall depends on how clean the lens of the periscope is. Even if my eyesight is perfect, a dirty lens will hamper my perception. Thus, to define life in terms of a pumping heart and an active brain is like defining eyesight in terms of the condition of the periscope. Just like my fundamental ability to see is not dependent on the periscope, the soul does not depend on the body for any of its fundamental abilities.

Since the soul, characterized by consciousness, does not depend on anything that makes up the body while it’s in the body, we understand that the soul does not need the body for its existence. The body is merely a lump of matter; it is always dead. Life is when a soul occupies a body and animates it; death is when the soul moves on to leave behind a dead lump of matter – the body.

Life exists not because of a functioning body, but despite being in an inherently dead body. If life exists even before death, it definitely can exist after death.

Society - A Garden of Symbiotic Interrelationships

A mature society should protect and enrich the lives of all, whether weak or strong. It should uplift everyone from whatever their current status in life. The society should not be an arena for competition but a garden for cooperation and symbiotic interrelationships.

A society that breeds dissatisfaction, breeds envy and unnecessary competition; and a society that breeds satisfaction, breeds respect and cooperation.

Jobless by Choice

Having a reasonable amount of money at one's disposal is a practical necessity for having a good life. But is having a job too?

Many individuals do not need to have a job for money; either their spouses earn enough, or they are retired with enough money, or they are part of a well-to-do family. Somehow the modern ethos equates working for money to leading a useful life. This is characterized by questions like: "What is the use of your education if you are not earning money?". Or by "Why are you just sitting at home? Get a job!". Or by "What is the use of this degree? It doesn't get you a job."

In most cases, education is like an insurance against joblessness; since one cant predict the future, one takes an education that can reasonably guarantee sustenance for life. Thus, one chooses an education based on it's "relevance" in the job market of the day. But, after growing up it's possible that one might find oneself in a position where doing a job is not necessary.

Yes, a job is one of the most stable ways of earning money. And it can be fulfilling and one can make the world a better place by our job. And in most cases, it's just a glaring necessity. But it's not that people who have a job are more useful or better than those who don't. There is no connection, Those who choose to be jobless can lead very fulfilling lives too, and people with jobs can be the most miserable. In fact, without the rigmarole of a job, people have the opportunity to add tremendous value to the world. They can choose to spend their time on things that are close to their heart; they can lead a more independent life.

Obviously, this is not to advocate joblessness. But we must set right the mentality that one who is jobless is just "sitting at home" leading a "useless life" "wasting one's education". This attitude is very insensitive towards those who feel the pressure of society for being jobless, and sounds very foolish to the wise who can see through the artificial importance given to "having a job".

I know many highly educated individuals who have given up their jobs for a higher calling of service to humanity. At another level I have seen highly educated individuals make family and raising children their priority. I have seen them accepting a less glamorous job to facilitate their other priorities in life. I have even seen people, men and women, who are clear that they definitely don't want to spend their life doing a job - even if they are not sure what else they will do for their sustenance. Many of these people do a job as a necessity, not by choice.

People do have different priorities in life; the society must learn to respect individual preferences and appreciate the courage of those who choose to go against the popular current in order to lead a more joyful, purposeful, meaningful, relaxed, simple, responsible, principled, valuable, holistic life.

Would you ever have the courage to be jobless by choice?

Accepting A Guru – The Choice Is Yours

The scriptures tell us that accepting a spiritual master (Guru) is must for perfection in spiritual realization. But still, accepting a guru is a matter of choice in multiple ways.

One, everyone has a choice to decide whether they want spiritual realization or not. Basic information about the goals of various spiritual paths is needed for one to get curious, and then attracted, to these paths. A charismatic spiritual personality might also bias one to the path that that person has accepted.

Two, even on the same path, different groups of spiritualists, generally called sampradayas, exist. One chooses the sampradaya that one feels more connected to or one finds most relevant due to the way they present the practicalities of the path. And of course one sampradaya might be more vibrant than another in a particular geographical location. The choice can depend on many such factors.

Three, even within the same sampradaya, different people get attracted to different Gurus. This is natural and in fact beautiful. The same essential message is presented with a unique flavor by two perfect followers of the same sampradaya. This variety in the presentation and practice of the same authentic spiritual teachings is the very life of dynamic, joyful, ever fresh, and increasingly profound spirituality.

In this arena of choice, sometimes a person may find himself shackled by decisions others have made for him. For example, a family Guru. Social pressure can force one to accept the same Guru that his parents have accepted. Or the person underwent a 'Guru accepting ceremony' when he was not old enough to take such decisions. This is not necessarily wrong; a person might develop a natural attraction for this Guru due to his association over the years. If that Guru is following a high spiritual path, birth in such a family is glorious. But sometimes, a person might encounter spiritual principles significantly higher than that followed by the family Guru. Or the current Guru might be more official than transformational. Now what?

It's about choice - being allowed to choose and having the courage to do so. One's spiritual journey is one's own. Others  will guide, instruct, suggest, and help, or even threaten; but they have no right to force. Force kills spiritual life. Spirituality practiced against ones will is a farce; it's material, motivated by fear.

Sometimes such decisions can be tough to make. This hesitation is a good sign; that one is not taking the decision lightly. Quite often, the choice between the two paths or two sampradayas is easy; the level of realizations offered are evidently different. And often, there is not much opposition from family or society for such decisions. But in some cases, the choice is not so easy; either the two sampradayas don’t differ much, or there is opposition. At these times, best is to give the decision some more time and deliberation, and discuss the matter more with spiritually advanced souls who are not motivated by material considerations.

Accepting a particular path and dedicating one's life to a particular Guru is a serious decision. The better your choice, the more serious it becomes; in other words, the more spiritually advanced the Guru is, the more important it is to take that relationship seriously. Carelessness in this regard can hamper spiritual progress, because taking a Guru lightly is taking spiritual life cheaply. Thus, after accepting a Guru after intense and prolonged deliberation, one must cultivate this relationship very carefully. Neglecting this relationship now is not an expression of choice, but of spiritual lethargy and disrespect towards an advanced soul. Such an attitude is one's greatest misfortune and the biggest obstacle on the path towards spiritual success.

The choice is yours.