Friday, December 13

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 25 August 2019, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Bhagavad-gita 13.3)

Everyone is trying to be happy in the material world. Real happiness however is found on a deeper level. Now, the art is to develop a bigger vision. The Bhagavad-gita, in the beginning, talks about Arjuna, who is a member of a royal family, and has found himself in a difficult situation, a war situation which made him depressed. But then Krsna explained to Arjuna na jayate mriyate va kadacin nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah (Bhagavad-gita 2.20). He explained that the soul never takes birth, the soul never dies, and so on.

He also explained that the goal of life cannot be something temporary because by nature, we are eternal and by nature, we are looking for things that last eternally. Nobody likes it when the thing they really like is broken or stolen. It hurts. We are all attached. We want things to continue. We want love forever. All these things we want, but do we get them? Not really in the material world. It changes over time. So material enjoyment is by nature different from our nature. We are looking for things that last and they never do and it is painful because we are meant to actually find our enjoyment in eternal things. 

That is the message of the Bhagavad-gita: that one should look a little deeper in life, a little more long-term and only then can one find true happiness. It is a change. It takes some time to change our outlook but many people feel that there has to be more. So the real goal of life is spiritual and that is what we somehow or other have to keep in mind. We may sort of feel that way ourselves, but it will never become very solid unless we hear from self-realized persons. Therefore, one must hear from a teacher – from a guru – because such a teacher will not only tell us that spiritual life is the goal, but he can also instill a desire in our hearts. That is our aim.

Comments are closed.