Why read the same story again?
“O descendant of King Bharata, one who desires to be free from all
miseries must hear about, glorify and also remember the Personality of
Godhead, who is the Supersoul, the controller and the savior from all
miseries.” – Srimad Bhagavatam (2.1.5)
We want to read and hear something new, but little do we realize the
potency of hearing the same story again and again.
When we hear and read that which is timeless, we too enter that space
of no time.
For example when you visit a natural forest or a picturesque mountain
or a vast ocean, do you feel peace springing in your heart? When I sit
under a large banyan tree close to our ashram, I feel safe and at
home. Or if you visit an ancient temple, the stillness and serenity
fills your soul with an ineffable joy. When we chant our daily prayers
in our temple hall, where the same spiritual activities are going on
consistently, daily, for over thirty four years, we feel shelter.
What’s common to all these phenomenon is: when we experience closeness
to someone or something that’s been around for ages, then the
timeless, deathless, eternal being, who also resides within our
perishable body, also finds a connection. It’s similar to what I
experienced few years ago when I visited Perth. I went on a walk
through the narrow by lanes in a small town, and suddenly, lo and
behold, I saw a huge board outside a house that said, ‘Udupi Shri
Krishna Vegetarian restaurant’ and a beautiful photo of Krishna’s
deity from the Udupi temple illuminated the billboard. I was stunned
and felt emotional; ten thousand miles away, there was someone from my
hometown here! I couldn’t’ believe it! Likewise when we enter a space
that is eternal- like a place where Lord is worshipped, or a setting
where Holy Names of the Lord are chanted in unison by many people, we
find shelter. These activities, much as they seem ordinary to our
common vision, it’s beyond the realm of matter. And our souls know it.
And that’s why we feel happy.
In the same manner, Krishna performed many pastimes five thousand
years ago when he incarnated on this planet. But these activities of
the Lord are eternal; they are constantly happening in some part of
the universe. Since they are eternal and timeless, when we
submissively, with an open heart, hear or read about them, we too find
shelter. As a child when I visited our ancestral house and met my
grandfather and saw him quietly eat his lunch or soberly carry out his
duties, I felt peace and shelter- he seemed ageless. Our souls are
hankering to be reunited in a deathless space and Lord’s pastimes
catapult us to that realm of existence.
The scriptures repeatedly declare that hearing about and glorifying
the Lord are identical with the transcendental nature of the Lord and
by so doing, one will be always in the association of the Lord. This
brings freedom from all sorts of fears.
Therefore, although you’ve likely read and heard many times what will
follow in this series, I am convinced that by recalling and sharing, I
am bathing my own soul with a life giving nectar.
As a preparation for our upcoming Gaur Purnima festival, I write the
Lord’s pastimes as a part of my daily journaling…..
To be continued…
