States and Attributes of the Creation

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—By Hayagriva das Adhikari
(ISKCON—Columbus)

Part I (Continued in Issue No. 31)

“Intelligence, knowledge, freedom from doubt and delusion, forgiveness, truthfulness, self-control and calmness, pleasure and pain, birth, death, fear, fearlessness, non-violence, equanimity, satisfaction, austerity, charity, fame and infamy are created by Me alone.” (Gita, 10.4-5)

Just before relating His various opulences to Arjuna, Lord Sri Krishna gives this list of conditions and qualities by way of an introduction. In no way is this list complete, but what is given should be considered to be of special significance. Krishna is the Original Cause of everything, and consequently He is the Cause of all good and bad qualities and all states of existence. Because of our limited perception, whatever we see in this phenomenal world has a dual nature: good and bad, pleasure and pain, hot and cold, joy and sorrow, and so on. “O son of Kunti, the non-permanent appearance of heat and cold, happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.” (Gita, 2.14) Actually these states are alloyed qualities of the Supreme Lord. They exist in Krishna in full, and they are seen in part in the living entities.

Intelligence

What is real intelligence? At the risk of seeming facetious, it can be stated that there are two kinds of intelligence: stupid intelligence and intelligent intelligence. The first variety is material, the second spiritual. Sometimes we say that a person is an intelligent driver. This means he knows how to drive a car well. Or a man like Henry Ford takes a few scraps of metal, assembles them and makes a machine that can run down the road. This may be an example of technology and may take some intelligence, but according to the Gita, this is mundane or material intelligence.

So what is real intelligence? Real intelligence is to know and understand that Krishna is the Supreme and I am part and parcel. It is the ability to analyze things in their proper perspective, to understand the finer activities of nature and how things work in nature. A child may be interested simply in the anatomical or the automatic in watching a train run down a track or in watching a baseball player hit a ball, but one who is actually intelligent tries to understand the active principle behind the train and the body. A child thinks that a motor car in the street is running of its own accord, or if he sees a record player he wonders what a fine discovery it is because there is music coming out of it. In the same way the scientists observe nature and wonder how so much is happening, and most often they spend their time observing and describing an infinitude of natural functionings. They may be keen observers like the hawk, but what conclusions do they draw from hundreds and hundreds of years of research? They already admit that despite all their research they have not even scratched the surface in their investigation of natural phenomena. And they will simply go on observing for millions and millions of years. In this way they will compile volumes and volumes of books of observations, but there will be no cohesive vision to unify them. There is a proverb that says, “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.” Mundane scientists, educators and professional men, like the fox, may have billions of scraps of information at their fingertips, but they have no unifying vision like the hedgehog. The hedgehog knows that its quills will protect him against a million foxes, and similarly a man of vision knows that he can withstand countless mundane wranglers. For instance, Lord Jesus Christ was more certain of one thing than anyone in the world. He knew that God the Father was the Supreme and that He was His son and servant. He was not so much interested in the workings of nature, for He knew the principle behind nature and His relationship to it. And because He knew this and could express this and because He sacrificed His life for this, He has influenced the lives of countless millions.

So the gross observation of nature is not intelligence. Simply watching the machine run is not enough. We must try to find out who is working the machine. Philosophers and scientists are not working of their own accord but under the spell of material energy. They are subject to birth, old age, disease and death. They are subject to the functionings of their bodies and are dependent on the resources in nature for their very existence. Everything is being carried on completely independent of them. No man can keep his heart beating after that organ is exhausted. No man can give air to the earth and no man can make the sunrise in the morning or stop it from setting in the evening. All of the workings of nature are conducted by a Force beyond nature, by a Super natural. In the Gita, Krishna asserts this Super natural to be Himself. “This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kunti producing all the moving and unmoving beings; and by its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.” (Gita, 9.10) Nature, then, is simply the agent. The real worker is Krishna. Therefore one who has real intelligence, real buddhi, knows that he is just an instrument in the hands of Krishna.

Knowledge

The English word “know” comes from the Sanskrit word gnanum by way of the Greek word gnosis. Real knowledge is the ability to understand and discriminate between spirit and matter. This is not the type of knowledge that is taught in universities. The reference here is to transcendental knowledge of which the universities are in dire need. In the Fourth Chapter of Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna says that work done in a spirit of renunciation culminates in transcendental knowledge and that one should try to learn the truth by approaching a Spiritual Master, inquiring from him submissively and rendering service unto him. Because the Spiritual Master has seen the truth, he can impart knowledge to his students. And what is the fruition of this knowledge? It is stated very plainly. “When you have thus learned the truth you will know that all living beings are My parts and parcels—and that they are in Me and are Mine.” (Gita, 4.35) This knowledge is priceless and bestows the highest benefits. Sri Krishna says that such knowledge will bear even the most sinful of sinners across the ocean of miseries. “In this world, there is nothing so sublime and pure as transcendental knowledge. Such knowledge is the mature fruit of all mysticism. And one who has achieved this enjoys the Self within himself in due course of time. A faithful man who is absorbed in transcendental knowledge and who subdues his senses quickly attains the Supreme spiritual peace.” (Gita, 4.38-39)

Therefore if one wants to be free from all doubt and delusion he must cultivate spiritual knowledge. The first step in cultivation is to understand the difference between matter and spirit and by thus understanding transcend the material platform of body consciousness, of thinking that I am this body. There is something in the body which is working the body. Matter is animated due to the touch of spirit. It is dependent on spirit. We must be able to distinguish between the two. Unfortunately today in all of our universities study is restricted to matter only, and spirit is neglected. An automobile is given all attention, but the man, the driver, is neglected. In the Second Chapter of Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna elaborately explains that Arjuna is not that body and that the soul exists apart from the body. We are a combination of matter and spirit in our contaminated state. In actuality, we are all spirit, superior energy, but because we wanted to enjoy material nature we became embodied in the inferior energy. Therefore the conditioned living entity is called the marginal energy of Krishna.

Knowledge of the inferior energy is temporary because matter is temporary. We may become chemists or engineers in this life and acquire so much knowledge, but at death all of this knowledge will be finished. We will no longer be chemists or engineers. But because the spirit soul doesn’t die, whatever knowledge we acquire about the spirit soul does not die with the body. It is retained and carried into our subsequent lives. If we develop 10% spiritual knowledge in this body, when we get our next bodies we will continue from 11%. Of course the best thing is to finish it 100% now because human life is meant for the elevation of the spirit, not for the exploitation of matter for sense enjoyment.

Krishna consciousness is dormant within every living being. If one approaches a mahatma, a Spiritual Master, this dormant knowledge can be awakened. In Srimad Bhagavatam it is said that the living entity is a spiritual spark that wanders not only from one body to another but from one planet to another. He is wandering in his search for Absolute Knowledge, and he does not know that his best course is to find a Spiritual Master who is well versed in the scriptures, who has realized Krishna and who chants His glories, Hare Krishna. In order to cross the great ocean of material nescience, one must have a good ship, a good captain and a favorable atmosphere. To cross this ocean we already have a very good ship, this human form of life. This kind of ship is not always obtainable. We have come to this stage by gradual evolutionary process from aquatics, birds and animals. So we should use this opportunity, and if we have a good captain, a Spiritual Master to steer us, then the atmosphere of Krishna consciousness will be supplied by the Lord. So if there is no hurricane and if there is a good ship and a good captain delivering the message of Bhagavad Gita, take advantage and cross. As soon as one becomes fully conscious of his position apart from the gross material body, then he becomes free from material consciousness. One should acquire this knowledge of spirit slowly but surely. One should not blindly accept but use his developed consciousness. This knowledge also depends upon one’s mode of living. Therefore one has to develop the other positive qualities enumerated.

Freedom From Doubt And Delusion

In the Fourth Chapter of Gita Krishna says, “But ignorant and faithless men who doubt the revealed scriptures go to ruin and perish. For the doubting soul there is happiness neither in this world nor in the next.” (Gita, 4.40) Doubt has been called the shadow of truth. At the very beginning of one’s spiritual life, a devotee is invariably beset by a legion of doubts. These doubts, which are but demons of innumerable colors and forms, all have one purpose: to obscure the light of truth from the vision of the devotee. Francis Bacon once wrote, “In contemplation if a man begins with certainties he shall end in doubts, but if he be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.” In this age, especially, one is inclined to disbelieve and doubt—to doubt scripture, to doubt God, to doubt oneself. This age is called Kali yuga and is characterized by strife, doubt, ignorance, chaos and disagreement. So at the outset of one’s spiritual life, needless to say, innumerable doubts will present themselves. These demon doubts always surround the threshold of Knowledge-Bliss-Absolute. As the neophyte stands at this threshold, confused and fearful, the doubts assail him and tell him to turn back and not jump into the ocean of Divine bliss, and the timid soul, afraid of being hurt, hardly believing that it is eternal bliss and knowledge awaiting him, often fidgets and sometimes turns back in fear and disbelief.

Doubt is directly opposed to faith on the battlefield of the soul. Doubt and disbelief are the enemies of faith. If we have faith in a particular man, then we trust him in all kinds of ways, but if we have doubts about a man, then we trust him with nothing. Our relationship with the Divine is similar: our faith and trust in Him is inversely proportionate to the degree of doubt. The more we trust Him the more He reveals Himself to us, and the more He reveals Himself to us, the less we doubt. In the Bhagavad Gita Arjuna stands out as a man with a great deal of faith in Krishna. He was offered a chance between commanding a great army without Krishna or a small army with Krishna as his chariot driver. He chose Krishna as his charioteer and rejected the large army because he had faith in Krishna. Nonetheless, before the Battle of Kurukshetra, even with Krishna as his charioteer, he was beset with doubts. But Lord Krishna dispels all these doubts with the light of knowledge. He tells Arjuna, “Therefore the doubts in your heart risen out of ignorance should be slashed by the weapon of knowledge. Armed with yoga, O Bharata, stand and fight.” (Gita, 4.42) After Krishna spoke the knowledge of Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna, Arjuna said, “My delusion is gone. I have regained my memory through Your Grace, O Krishna. I am firm, I am free from doubt, I will act according to your word.” (Gita, 18.73) Doubt, fear, and delusion are interrelated. They are all the sons of ignorance and are all to be found on the roads of darkness. Knowledge is the sunshine that triumphantly disperses darkness and its consorts. Doubt is due to delusion. One is deluded who thinks that that which is unreal is real and who therefore does not know the nature of reality. Matter is illusion and spirit is reality. Therefore one who knows and can distinguish between matter and spirit is not deluded. Knowledge, therefore, as stated above, is understanding the nature of matter and spirit. Just as Krishna dispelled the doubts of Arjuna on the battlefield, the Spiritual Master imparts knowledge to his disciple and dispels the doubts that destroy his spiritual life. “If the sun and moon should doubt, they’d immediately go out,” Blake wrote. Lord Krishna proclaims that just a little advancement in the Dharma He is teaching can “protect one from the most dangerous type of fear.” (Gita, 2.40) So if one doubts the knowledge imparted by Lord Krishna and the Spiritual Master, one remains in ignorance and continues to be deluded about the nature of matter and spirit and so confuses his body with his Self and fears death.

Etymologically the word “fear,” coming from the Anglo-Saxon faer, literally means “a sudden attack,” and it is akin to the Old High German word fare which basically means “ambushed, snared, or entrapped.” So we are entrapped by material nature and are constantly being attacked by it. And because of this we are always in a fearful condition in the material world. Fearfulness is due to worrying about the future. When a person has no knowledge about the next life, when he thinks his body is all in all, then he is always in anxiety to protect that body from the onslaught of other living entities, from natural catastrophes and from diseases arising from the body itself. Therefore fear is due to one’s absorption in illusory energy. It is often said that all fears boil down to the basic fear of death. At death only the gross material body dies. So it is only when one identifies himself with the gross body that he fears death. Fear is therefore due to ignorance of one’s real identity. Conversely, fearlessness is due to one’s knowledge of his constitutional position. One who is in Krishna consciousness has no fears because his activities are non-material and assure him of going to the spiritual sky, back to Godhead at death. He is established in the Divine consciousness apart from the body consciousness, and because he has knowledge of the next life he is never in anxiety. His eternality is asserted by Lord Krishna Himself, “Proclaim it boldly, O son of Kunti, that My devotee never perishes.” (Gita, 9.31) Krishna also says that He is both the personification of fear and death itself, Yamaraj. Because a bhakta always sees Krishna, death is not something unknown or strange to him, and because he knows the constitution of the soul, he knows that death is simply a transition to life. With the Names of Krishna on his lips, he fears nothing, for Krishna says that His Names contain all His potencies. And in the Srimad Bhagavatam it is said that the vibration of Krishna’s Names strikes terror into fear itself.

Forgiveness

We cannot expect that all men will be first class. There may be men in goodness or in passion or in ignorance, but one should always be tolerant and forgiving. In Krishna consciousness one doesn’t really have any connection with this man or that man. He is simply connected to the philosophy and the process of life. On a ship one may not find everyone to his liking, but he should nonetheless sit down firmly in his cabin and take advantage of the crossing. The minor offenses of others should be forgiven as a penance. Lord Chaitanya says that if one wants to chant Hare Krishna he should become as tolerant as a tree. Everyone commits offences against trees. People cut them down, snatch leaves from them and break twigs and branches. But still the trees supply fruits and flowers and shade. To chant the Hare Krishna mantra, one should be as forgiving and forebearing as the grass which does not protest even though it is trampled down. After all, offenses are committed against the gross body. How is it possible to offend the ever blissful soul? Puffed-up artificial honor is simply connected with the body. Whether one is aking or a poor man, whether one is honored or insulted, kingdom, poverty, insult and honor will all be finished at death. One should realize that he is spirit and has nothing to do with honor or dishonor. Becoming God conscious is declaring war against material nature. And so material nature puts all impediments in one’s way.

One may be insulted, but one should never become disturbed by this. Ananda, one of Lord Buddha’s disciples, was once asked by Lord Buddha what he would do if, when going to a town to preach the dharma, the inhabitants insulted him. Ananda replied, “Oh, I would bless them for not injuring me.” Then Lord Buddha asked what he would do if the inhabitants threw stones at him and injured him, and Ananda replied, “Oh, I would bless them for not killing me.” Finally Lord Buddha asked what he would do if they killed him, and his disciple replied, “Oh, I would bless them for delivering me from all the sufferings of this material world.” Similarly, Lord Jesus Christ was crucified because He preached God consciousness. And yet while He was dying on the cross, He said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Lord Jesus, by His very life and teachings, emphasized the importance of forgiveness in this age of Kali. Similarly, Lord Krishna says that the wise man is always forgiving and is the same both in pleasure and pain, honor and dishonor. In Srimad Bhagavatam Maharaj Parikshit insulted Samika Rishi by placing a dead snake on his shoulder, but the sage considered this unimportant and readily forgave him. However his son, Sringi, who was puffed-up with brahminical powers, did not forgive Maharaj Parikshit, but cursed him, and for this Sringi was condemned. The best policy then in this age of Kali is to forgive others as one would have himself forgiven by Lord Krishna.

Truthfulness

The word “truth” comes from the Anglo-Saxon word treowe and originally from the Sanskrit word derew, both meaning “tree.” The idea is that one who is truthful is as firm, upright and strong as a tree. When one is truthful, he does not misrepresent the facts, but presents them fully for the benefit of others. Of course it is conventional from the social point of view to speak the truth only when it is palatable to others, but this is not what is meant by truthfulness. One should always speak the truth under all circumstances, although it may seem to be unpalatable at the time. Flattery, like insult, is directed to the body. How can one flatter the spirit soul? So, neglecting to be truthful for the sake of flattering others is indulging in a type of sense gratification. In the Srimad Bhagavatam it is said that the Absolute Truth is that from which everything emanates. So we should understand what the Absolute Truth is, and we should always speak according to that understanding. Then we will be speaking truthfully. Lord Jesus Christ has said, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” The truth frees us because when we tell the truth we do not become entangled by trying to compromise with material situations, which are always changing. Because we know the Absolute Truth, which is, “God is great and we are subservient,” we have a center for speech, thought and action and so are straightforward in all our dealings. By not becoming entangled in a chain of lies, we are set free.

If we don’t accept our subservient position before God then we have to do it before material nature. It is a false notion that we are independent. We cannot be absolute. Nature’s law forces us to starve, forces us to take breath, forces us to get sick and die. Materialistic ideas of independence and freedom are but the wishful pipedreams of feverish brains. In America the slaves thought that when they would be set free, all their problems would be solved, but the Emancipation Proclamation was just the beginning of their problems. Similarly, India, although eating well under British rule, was hankering for independence. But now that she is free she is starving and begging. So what is this independence? It is simply illusion. We are all put under the jurisdiction of material nature. Our freedom only comes when we are subservient to the Absolute Truth. When one serves the government he partakes of the opulence of the government, and when one serves the Absolute Truth he partakes of the qualities of the Absolute Truth and so becomes truthful and free from illusion. He speaks of the Absolute Truth for the benefit of others, and he does not invent but bases his statements on scripture. It is often said that God is truth and is referred to as Absolute Truth because He is never at variance with truth. This is to say that He is never false or in a state of illusion, nor can there be any duplicity in Him.

Meister Eckhart once wrote, “What is Truth? Truth is something so noble that if God could turn aside from it, I could keep to the truth and let God go.” This means that the concept of “God,” which is the concept of Absolute Controller, is not as important as Absolute Truth. Out of helplessness we yield to the Absolute Controller, but out of love we yield to the Absolute Truth.

Self-Control

A swami is one who can control the senses. Generally we are all servants of our senses. Our eyes will make us turn from something horrible to look at something beautiful. Our nose will make us avoid stench and sprinkle ourselves with perfumes and lotions. Our ears will make us avoid unpleasant sounds and buy phonographs and go to concerts to hear the music we like. Our hands and sense of touch will make us buy expensive clothing to cover our bodies and make us hunt for sexual partners. And our tongue will make us go to the grocery store to buy expensive foods and make us go to restaurants to partake of the concoctions of special chefs. And our mind will make us buy intoxicants so we can get dizzy, have hallucinations, and feel “happy” for a moment. And all of these senses combined make us work very, very hard throughout our lives to serve them nicely. Then when we are under their control and serving them very nicely, they suddenly all leave us at death. “An intelligent person does not take part in the sources of misery, which are due to contact with the material senses. O son of Kunti, such pleasures have a beginning and an end, and so the wise man does not delight in them.” (Gita, 5.22) So the senses are hard ungrateful masters who are never satisfied. They drag the self into the darkest regions of the universe and make him endure all kinds of ignominies.

The attraction the senses have for their objects is called lust. And in the Third Chapter of Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna tells Arjuna, “It is lust only which is born of contact with the material mode of passion and later transformed into wrath; and which is the all-devouring, sinful enemy of this world,” (Gita, 3.37) that turns one from the Divine. “As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror is covered by dust, or as the embryo is covered by the womb, similarly, the living entity is covered by different degrees of this lust. Thus, a man’s pure consciousness is covered by his eternal enemy in the form of lust, which veils the real knowledge of the living entity and bewilders him. Therefore, O Arjuna, best of the Bharatas, in the very beginning curb the great symbol of sin [lust] by regulating the senses, and slay this destroyer of knowledge and self-realization.” (Gita, 3.38-41) Throughout the Gita, self-control is of central importance, and Krishna emphasizes that the man who is in communion with Him can control himself. As long as one is under the control of the material senses there is no question of mukti or liberation. And of all the senses the mind is the strongest, for it controls the other senses. After Lord Krishna gives instructions in Samkhya yoga in Chapter Six of the Gita, Arjuna says that this yoga appears impractical and unendurable to him because the mind is restless and unsteady. “The mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate and very strong, O Krishna, and to subdue it is, it seems to me, more difficult than controlling the wind.” (Gita, 6.34) The Lord admits that it is very difficult to curb the restless mind but, “It is possible by constant practice and by detachment.” (Gita, 6.35) He then tells Arjuna that “one who strives by right means to control the mind is assured of success.” (Gita, 6.36) The mind is central to the control of other senses. “One should engage oneself in the practice of yoga with undeviating determination and faith. One should abandon without exception all material desires born of ego and thus control all the senses on all sides by the mind.” (Gita, 6.24)

It is not possible to control the senses by denying them absolutely. Activity is the symptom of the living entity. Lord Krishna says that one cannot remain inactive for even a moment. Therefore the senses must be engaged. In the Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna enumerates ways whereby the mind and senses can be engaged in self realization and thus controlled. There is the very difficult path of meditation, Samkhya yoga, according to which one must select a seat in complete solitude, sit erect and cross-legged, refrain completely from all sex life, stare at the tip of his nose, regulate his breathing, shut out all external objects and go into a trance meditating on the Super Soul within. This was recommended for the previous age and is practically impossible now. It is certainly impractical for Westerners whose legs ache after about fifteen minutes of lotus posture, what to speak of days. Another method for controlling the senses is Karma yoga, which is the process of engaging the senses in action and work in a spirit of detachment and renunciation. And a third method is Jnana yoga, by which the senses are engaged in the study of scripture. All of these culminate in Bhakti yoga, which is the highest, easiest and most profitable method for this or any age. In Bhakti yoga, the senses are controlled by total devotion to the Supreme. One classic example of total devotion was Maharaj Amburish who adopted all the processes of devotional service and attained perfect success. It was he who engaged his mind on the Lotus Feet of the Lord, his voice in describing the spiritual worlds, his hands in cleansing the temple of the Lord, his ears in submissively hearing the words of Lord Sri Krishna, his eyes in visualizing the deities of the Lord, his body in touching the bodies of the devotees, his nostrils in smelling the flowers offered to the Lord, his tongue in tasting the food offered to the Lord, his legs in visiting the temple of the Lord, and all the energy of his life in executing the services of the Lord without in the least desiring his own sense gratification. All of these enabled him to be completely successful in controlling the senses. It should be noted that he did not control his senses by trying to negate them, by trying to meditate on the void or even by practicing austerities. For, after all, he was speaking and working, associating with others, eating, traveling about, smelling flowers. He led a life of full engagement. Yet his senses were perfectly controlled because they were absorbed in the service of Krishna. So it is not that we have to deny our senses. In fact, this is not possible. But we must engage our senses positively, following in the footsteps of Maharaj Amburish. One who can control his senses in such a way is called a swami, for the senses are actually acting under his order. “Before giving up this present body, if one is able to tolerate the urges of the material senses and check the force of desire and anger, he is a yogi and is happy in this world.” (Gita, 5.23)

It is also said that next to the mind the most difficult sense organ to control is the tongue, for when one can control the tongue, he can control all the other senses. And if he cannot control the tongue, all the other senses run riot. The tongue is controlled by chanting Hare Krishna and eating prasadam, spiritual food. The business of the tongue is to vibrate the transcendental sounds and to taste the transcendental food. In this way, it will be restricted from idle talk, meat-eating, smoking, etc.

We are not stones but men, and our senses are superior to dull matter. Lord Krishna says, “Mind is higher than the senses; intelligence is still higher than the mind; and he, the soul, is even higher than intelligence. Thus knowing oneself to be transcendental to the material senses, mind and intelligence, one should control the lower self by the higher self and thus by spiritual strength conquer this insatiable enemy known as lust.” (Gita, 3.42-43) The material senses which belong to the lower self are actually reflections of the transcendental senses which belong to the higher self. The process of total devotional engagement of the senses as practiced by Maharaj Amburish transcendentalizes our senses. “For one who has conquered his mind, it is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his very mind will be the greatest enemy.” (Gita, 6.6)

Calmness

Once the senses are controlled, one becomes calm. He does not always worry about making money in order to be able to buy things to gratify them. Because the mind and the senses are controlled by engagement, the self is not disturbed by the dictation of the senses. He hears them but tolerates them as a man may tolerate a nagging wife. The desires of the senses may come and go, but he is always calm because he knows that they are controlled against their will by devotional engagement. It is not possible to stop the flow of desires, but it is possible not to be disturbed by them. Lord Krishna says, “A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires—that enter like rivers into the ocean which is ever being filled but is always still—can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires. A person who has given up all desires for sense gratification, who lives free from desires, who has given up all sense of proprietorship, who is devoid of false ego—he alone can attain real peace.” (Gita, 2.70-71)

A person in the Divine consciousness is also calm because he is established in Krishna who is the Ultimate Security. As stated before, he is not fearful of death because he knows his identity beyond the body. Rivers are turbulent when they are running to the sea, but their waters become calm when they enter the great ocean. When the individual consciousness is severed from its relationship with the Divine, it is restless and turbulent, but when it enters the great ocean of the Divine consciousness it becomes calm.

Continued in issue number 31.

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