In honor of today being the disappearance day anniversary of the great bhakti yoga saint Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati, I had some inspiration to share a reflection on some of the great wisdom he left us…
Everyone of us, to greater or lesser extents, are struggling here in this material world. What is the source of our struggle? Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati, a great bhakti saint, summed it up in such a potent, eloquent way when he asserted:
“Every human being is knowingly or unknowingly struggling to eliminate the dualities which interfere with direct experience of eternity.”
Simply put, because we are eternal, spiritual beings, we naturally have an inherent desire to have direct experience of that nature. However, there is a problem… We are currently living in a temporary, material world. Thus, through various distractions of this world, we tend to lose touch with the proper means by which we can connect to our eternal nature. This in turn leads to suffering and difficulties. This process is alluded to in a verse from the ancient wisdom text, the Bhagavad Gita:
“Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose, and their aim is one. The intelligence of those who are irresolute is many-branched.” (verse 2.41)
So if we are irresolute- if we do not have a single point of concentration, a clear means with which to direct our mind, an overarching ideal we are striving to follow in order to connect with ourselves and others on the level of the soul- then, by default our (faulty) intelligence will drag us on a search for spiritual satisfaction through variegated material phenomena which can never bring it.
Now, what is a practical takeaway from all this? That we not only need to be resolute in our purpose (i.e. have the goal of connecting with our eternal nature), we also need to have the proper aim, or direction to go about attaining this connection. This entails a process of ‘re-calibrating’ our mind and senses through genuine, authorized, and regular spiritual practice so that we gradually become less and less dependent on sensory experiences to bring us pleasure. As this ‘re-calibration’ progresses, the mirror of our consciousness becomes clearer and clearer and subsequently we find more and more pleasure within, through seeing and experiencing our own spiritual nature (i.e. directly experiencing eternity)…
We all struggle in this world, but the choice of how we struggle is up to us. We can follow the whims of our mind and senses and struggle to find lasting happiness in things that do not last; or, we can take up the ideal struggle by arming ourselves with transcendetal knowledge (like that found in the Bhagavad Gita) and conquering our mind and senses in order to have direct experience of our own eternity.
Stay tuned for more reflections on the Bhagavad Gita and spiritual life. If anyone would like a copy of the Bhagavad Gita please let me know and I’d love to send you one. And, as always, I’d love to connect and hear any of your reflections, thoughts, or questions!
Yours in service,
DK dasa (Dan Taylor)
dkdasa108@gmail.com
