A lesson from Mr. Bean

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 24 February 2019, New York, United States of America, Bhagavad-gita 7.7)

Do you ever watch Mr. Bean? Well, there is one episode that I like where he comes to a hotel and he checks in. He first rings a bell and someone appears from behind the counter and takes him to a room. He wants a cheap one and he is taken to the top of the hotel building and gets into the room. Everything is there and he proceeds to sit. He opens his suitcase and he takes out a drill and then he begins to drill into the wall. Holes in the hotel room’s wall! Then he takes a painting out of his suitcase, puts a hook in the drilled opening and then hangs the painting onto it. Then he puts some flowers in a vase in the room. After that, he wants to use the bathroom but notices that there is no door, it is not attached. So he looks and finds a bathroom next door. Then he puts a saw blade through the wall and cuts a door out of the wall and that was it! He locks the bathroom from inside and everything is attached. Takes the teddy bear, puts on his hat and off he goes to bed for the night.

This is funny. But why is it funny? It is funny because he treats a temporary situation like a hotel room as a permanent residence. And guess what? We are doing the same. We are also treating this temporary situation like it is permanent. So if we make the enjoyment in this world everything, then we are treating the temporary situation as permanent. Of course, even in the temporary situation, a little comfort is okay, but how much effort are we going to make? How much effort? Why worry so much about such temporary situations? So this is the proper understanding. The real happiness is not in the material world. The real thing is not the pearls, but the real thing is the thread. The real thing is Krsna.

So in this way, we are focusing on that deeper level and we begin to see differently. We are no longer looking at the external things. We are really looking at the essence, which is Krsna – Who is behind everything, Who is the origin of everything and we realize that this is the most important of all things, and everything else is secondary. We can simplify our involvement with matter and we have more time and energy for Krsna. So the more we can simplify our dealings with matter, the more we are free for Krsna, to connect with Him. In this way we can see, matah paramtaram nanyat kincid asti dhananjaya (Bhagavad-gita 7.7). There is nothing superior to Krsna, absolutely nothing. Krsna is really the most wonderful, Krsna is the most interesting. Krsna can satisfy us more than anything or anyone. This is what we have to thoroughly realize.