A slightly edited version of this article appeared in the November 2010 issue of Back To Godhead (India Edition) magazine.
From my early childhood I had wondered where might be the limit of the universe I live in. At night, as the stars twinkled enigmatically overhead, with the moon majestically presiding over the celestial assembly, I pondered what lies beyond this universe. Suppose I venture out into the enchanting night sky and some fine hour reach its limit, what will I find beyond it? If I ever find the boundary, I’ll be able to distinguish between the two sides of it, inside the boundary, and beyond it. Certainly, the inside part belongs to this universe, but if I can perceive the beyond, then certainly the inside is not all that exists; there is existence beyond too. And so, with the spirit of adventure and with the anticipation of new discoveries, I would continue my journey. But then, I could come across another boundary, and another, and another. At every boundary, there will certainly be something beyond it, because a boundary implies the existence of the beyond. Either I’ll keep finding such boundaries, or after certain number of boundaries, I’ll never find the next bounding limit. In either case, I concluded, I would never find a boundary beyond which existence ceased. Existence is unlimited. Incomprehensible, but undeniable.
We read from the Vedic scriptures that existence is indeed unlimited. This universe we live in has a boundary. It is shaped like a sphere covered by layers of material elements like earth, water, fire, air, etc. The sky we see at night is inside this universe and can be called the material sky. But beyond this limited universe, there is the unlimited existence of the spiritual sky which has no limits. In that spiritual sky there are unlimited material universes, in one of which we presently live. Apart from that, in the unlimited spiritual sky there also exist unlimited spiritual planets on which the Supreme Lord Himself resides in His unlimited all-powerful forms along with His uncountable loving devotees enjoying unlimited loving pastimes experiencing ever increasing and ever fresh happiness.
Another question I have wondered is about the origin of everything. Everything has a source, but what is the source of everything? And when did everything start coming into being? So, I started my thought experiments. Very soon I reached to the following. For there to be a time instant at which existence came into being, there has to be a time instant at which existence was absent. That is, at time t, there was non-existence – nothing existed. And then, out of nowhere, literally, at time t+dt, voila! There was existence! Existence came out of non-existence. This, I was convinced beyond doubt, is not possible. So, what’s the alternative explanation? The only alternative is that there is existence eternally, for all time instants t. Since we are certain that there is existence, and that existence cannot crop out of non-existence, existence is eternal.
Combined with my earlier conclusion, that existence is unlimited, this means that existence is not only unlimited, but also eternal. Eternally unlimited existence. Again, incomprehensible, but undeniable. But the Vedic scriptures confirm this as well. The Supreme Lord Sri Krishna and His energies exist eternally, and simultaneously. Just like the Sun and sunlight exist simultaneously, the Sun being the source, the Lord and His energies exist simultaneously, the Lord being their source. One of the Lords energies is the material energy of which the material universes are made of. This energy is also eternal, but its different manifestations are temporary. Therefore, everything inside this universe and the universe itself is temporary, being temporary manifestations of the eternal material energy of the Lord. The time scales might vary astronomically; some manifestations exist for a few minutes, while some, like this universe, exist for millions of years. But in any case, all temporary; and in fact hopelessly insignificant compared to the eternally unlimited nature of existence, in terms of both time and size.
The next question I have pondered, which quite logically followed the above conclusions, is about my own existence in this whole eternally unlimited scheme of things. If my existence is limited to the hundred years of the existence of my body, then nothing of this world is of any significance to me at all. What is a hundred years compared to eternity? All human endeavors, philosophy, morality, social welfare activity, achievement, emotions, aspirations, everything, is just plain insignificant. All discussions on any matter whatsoever is insignificant; right and wrong, justice and injustice, independence and slavery, this philosophy or that, sports, politics, showbiz, likes and dislikes, virtue and sin, nothing is significant any more than an invisible harmless speck of dust compared to the vast desert. And therefore, I could resign myself to doing whatever I like for the hopelessly limited expanse of my existence.
But what about the other possibility? What if my existence is not limited to just this one lifetime of hundred years? If it extends to many lifetimes at least? And what it if my existence is actually unlimited. If so, then how I lead my life becomes an important question because I don’t want to be uncomfortable for any significant length of time. How should I act so that my existence is comfortable and happy? And this question opens up all the discussions.
The Vedic scriptures assert, and are in fact based on, the fundamental understanding that life is eternal. All living beings are called souls (atman) who have existed eternally and will continue to exist eternally. Their original home is one of the spiritual planets, and they have an eternal relationship of love with the Lord. The souls are thus meant for an eternal life of happiness and enjoyment experienced through their spiritual senses by lovingly serving the Lord in the spiritual planets. The souls who desired to experience an existence independent of the Lord were kindly provided by the Lord with this material world and with a material body to interact with the material world. Thus, typically, the souls in the material universes are forgetful of their original position as an eternal loving associate of the Supreme Lord. However, because the souls have experienced sublime love and happiness in the spiritual world, they seek the same experience in this material world. They develop the notion that happiness can be derived only by gratifying their own mind and senses. Thus, in the quest for unlimited happiness, but through the temporary and limited material senses, either they are resigned to frustration (either tolerating it quietly or venting it out), or they start exploiting others for their own selfish desires. In any case, that which is experienceable only through spiritual senses by loving service to the Lord can never be experienced by the temporary and limited material senses merely by interaction with the objects of this material world. This situation is, in a nutshell, the cause of all the ills of this material world.
Thus, the root cause of all misery is that we are, of our own volition, looking for happiness in the wrong place. Unless the mind and senses are engaged in the loving service of the Lord, that which we are seeking – unlimited happiness – will never be ours. No amount of material ingredients can give us that. If it were so, all rich people would be happy and all poor ones sad. But by observing things around us we can clearly see that happiness levels have nothing to do with material affluence. What is that X-factor then that is the source of all lasting happiness? A few people begin to understand that the foundation of happiness is satisfaction. Being satisfied with what one has. An unsatisfied soul can never be happy, and a satisfied soul doesn’t require much to be happy. And what brings satisfaction? Selfless service.
Quite a few of us have the experience that helping others brings a sense of satisfaction to our lives. Many people dedicate their lives keeping the ideal of service as their guide. Why does selfless service bring about satisfaction? The Vedic scriptures explain that the very nature of the soul is selfless service to The Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. Thus, even a semblance of it, i.e. service to someone other than Krishna, brings about a drop of that ocean of satisfaction and happiness that is in store for us when we start lovingly serving Krishna directly. When we start serving Krishna directly, very shortly we start experiencing a deep sense of satisfaction and happiness. And but naturally, we want to share our good fortune of discovering real happiness with others.
Very often the question crops up that what’s the use of serving God who doesn’t really need our help instead of serving the needy and unfortunate of this world? The answer, which the reader would have figured out by now, is that it’s the need of every soul to serve God. Only by serving God can a soul really be as happy as he really wants to be. Therefore, one should serve God for our own benefit. Moreover, having understood this fundamental truth, one would naturally want to serve others by encouraging them to also serve God and thus find true happiness in their lives. This is the only real service one can render to others; all else will just be a mere semblance of service with no lasting positive impact, because nothing else tries to fix the root cause of all maladies. Thus, let all forms of social workers carry on their good work, but also add this most important factor of spreading God consciousness into their list of activities. With that, their endeavors will be truly successful; and without which they are all but utter failures.
At this point another question raises its hood, especially in the minds of the cynical. So, after all, they say, all you want is your own happiness. You are not really as selfless as you want us to believe. You are serving God because it gives you happiness; that’s not really selfless. We acknowledge the astute intelligence behind this question. And the answer to this very question is what actually touches the heart of all sincere devotees of God. For those who are seeking happiness away from God, we inform that unlimited happiness is found only in serving God. But by rendering some service to God, even selfishly, the dormant love for God starts getting revived. And very soon the person who had started serving God for personal satisfaction starts rendering service out of love. This is the natural state of the soul. It’s the nature of the soul to love and serve God, and once reinstated in that natural original consciousness, the soul just wants to serve God out of pure love. For a pure devotee of God, there is no consideration of whether he himself is happy or not, all he is concerned about is how he can serve His Lord and please Him. The Lord, who is all loving, is moved by the love of such a devotee and reciprocates in such a way that the devotee’s happiness knows no bounds. However, still, the pure devotee does not act motivated by Krishna’s reciprocation, but out of pure love only. The pure devotee is never seeking happiness, he is always seeking service – indeed, this is the very definition of pure love; and pure love for Krishna is the very essence of the existence of the soul.
Thus, the journey which started from the terrace of my house, gazing into the lovely night sky, led me beyond the boundaries of the material world into the limitless expanse of the spiritual sky. It further led me into the eternally limitless existence of the Lord and His energies. Discovering such incomprehensible vastness made me wonder about the significance of my own existence. Further excursions led me to the discovery of the eternity of my own existence, and of my natural eternal state of being a loving servant of God. Thus, at this point in my life, my focus is on reviving my natural spiritual consciousness and helping others do the same.
The incomprehensible but undeniable eternal limitlessness of existence out there has led me to discover myself in here.
