Inner Fulfillment

· Part 2: The Vision of Goodness ·

Basically, the advice of Rig Veda, the first Veda that descends from the upper world to this world, is, “The primary requirement for all is to conceive that there is a world above (‘above’ means in the line of consciousness). Your highest identity is that of consciousness, and you must adopt that conscious world above you as your shelter.” You can live and move there. This is a radical change. Here, you are in the atmosphere of exploitation, but that is a land of service where you have to think in terms of service. That region is on your head, it is superior to the stuff you are made of. So, do you want that connection, or do you prefer to reign in hell rather than serve in heaven? What do you like? Consider it, and then come forward. You can have a prospect of attaining everything up to Krishna, the Absolute. Otherwise, you will have to revolve here, in this world of 8,400,000 species.

jalaja navalaksani sthavara laksa-vimsatih
krmayo rudra-sankhyakah paksinam dasa-laksakam
trimsal-laksani pasvah catur laksani manusah

(Visnu Purana)

“There are 900,000 aquatic, 2,000,000 immobile, 1,100,000 worm-cum-insect, 1,000,000 bird, 3,000,000 animal and 400,000 human species.” These are the 8,400,000 classes of species throughout which you will have to wander in the world of action and reaction. You must select your path. Do you want to be a member of the land of immortality? Do you want janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi (birth, death, old age and infirmity), or do you want immortality? If you want immortality, you will have to pay for the ticket—you will have to obtain the visa and prepare yourself for such a categorical beginning.

“Diviva chaksur atatam…marisyeti, pasu-buddhim imam jahi. Do away with your animal consciousness that you are flesh and blood.” No, you are not limited to flesh and blood—you are a conscious unit, and you will not die. You are not a member of this dying world, where everything is sure to die on account of its malidentification. This world is forced upon you. “You must die, you must become infirm, you must be born, you must suffer from disease”—all these are misidentifications of your self with your body. This is animal consciousness (the consciousness that you are an animal), but you are not so, you are a conscious unit, you are spirit, a soul. Not only is the soul immortal, not only does God exist, not only is He the Absolute Dispenser of good and bad, but we ourselves are units of the conscious world. So, pasu-buddhim imam jahi, separate yourself eternally from that mania, from that misconception and false identification with this material aspect which is the result of your degraded life, and become reinstated in your glorious position as a soul. How is this possible? You are tatastha (marginal) by constitution, so you cannot stand on your own two feet. You must have some shelter—either mundane, within your mundane identification, or above that, with some shelter above your head. O tatastha-jiva, you must have shelter in the svarupa-sakti land, the ultimate land.

We must start our spiritual life from whatever environment we are placed in according to the result of our karma. We must begin our work of conquering all those samskaras (mundane tendencies) that comprise the mental encasement we are living in. “Tat te ‘nukampam susamiksamano.” We should not only live in our present position without complaint but also consider it really necessary for our upliftment. In this way, we must accept whatever adversities that come to us as the grace of the Lord. We must cope. Adopting this positive angle of vision of goodness, we must think, “This is my real necessity. There is no error in the calculation of the Lord. This test has been extended to me for my benefit. To stand, to face and cross this opposition is my chance to progress in my life. This test has been given by Krishna to facilitate my progressive life.” We are advised in Bhagavatam to face all adverse circumstances in such an optimistic way, then we shall very easily and swiftly cross these walls of misunderstanding, this maya, become liberated, and, what is more, have participation in Krishna consciousness, a life of dedication. “Tat te ‘nukampam susamiksamano bhunjana evatmakrtam vipakam. Whatever I find undesirable here is the result of my previous karma, and by the good will of the Supreme, that previous karma is going to be finished. I will be relieved. I will be made fit for higher service to Him, so this has come.” That is the advice in Srimad Bhagavatam. “Do not quarrel with the environment. Try to be adjusted with it; correct your own ego. Everything is alright.” Your ego is demanding some sort of comfort from the environment, and that is the cause of this hitch. There is no hitch in the outside, no ailment, but your ego creates the problem within you. That false ego should be dissolved, and liquid nectar will flow and place you within the highest plane, the plane where there is no complaint, then your soul will find itself standing and walking in the smooth, affectionate movement of the most fundamental plane, and all false friends—the circumstances we think to be friends but which are really all false—will be withdrawn.

That is nirguna, the causeless, most fundamental flow of welfare in the Absolute Plane. That is bhakti proper. Bhakti means seva, divine service. It is a wave of the deepest plane, and it is causeless and irresistible. It has no beginning, no end—it is an eternal flow. Only my soul can take a stand in that plane and move in harmony with that plane.

"Katha ganam natyam gamanam." It is mentioned in Sri Brahma-samhita, “All the talks there are as sweet as a song; all the movements there are as sweet as dancing.” Everything is sweet. Vrindavan is a plane of harmonious movement. We have to go back to that home. We have come out with the spirit of colonizing in a foreign land, with the bad purpose of exploitation. For the purpose of exploitation, we have come to colonize in this material world, and we suffer as a reaction. All material coverings must be eliminated, and our person within, our finest ego, must emerge: within this gross, mischievous ego, there is a finer ego, the soul, which is a child of the higher plane.

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CONTENTS

Preface

(1) Searching for the Solution

(2) The Vision of Goodness

(3) Happiness in Higher Thought

(4) The Happiest Form of Life

(5) A Labour of Love

(6) Homeward Bound

(7) The Land of Beauty

Epilogue: The Key to it All

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