Thinking about It

Desire is quite a force. It makes us have a tunnel vision and make us overbearing. It transforms into anger, greed and delusion.

When desire is obstructed, it becomes anger. In anger we can lose our perspective and ourselves. Quenching a desire can become greed. Greed can lead to delusion if its directed to relationships and money. They are all intertwined and create a web of thoughts that prevent us to see who we really are.

We need to pause, we will see Soham. The infinite that we are.

We spend so much time making up and breaking up. We exhaust ourselves and we lose our peace. We get angry at one action and write off the whole person and relationship, often over something small and petty.

We can be so rash and impatient from time to time. Do not snap the stings of love and haste, it cannot be joined easily. How we response becomes who we are and who we want to be.

We're all very similar to each other. Today's verse is about seeing oneness in all beings and things. The emotions we feel are the same. When we watch a movie or read a book, we identify with the characters because we're all going through the same things.

A line questions many of us ask ourselves are where do we come from and why are we here. All of these questions lead us to the infinite truth. Sometimes, the answers to questions aren't directly visible and we need to apply logic to get the answers.

Do you think God talks to you? It's one of the symptoms of someone diagnosed with psychosis is that they hear someone speaking to them and telling them what to do. The similarities between a man of enlightenment and someone with mental conditions is talked about in verse 22 of Bhaja Govindam.

The person of perfection is childlike in terms of their happiness. They are so spontaneous and uninhibited. They are totally present in the moment and are extremely spontaneous.

We come into this world with all the right tools to get moksha but we lose our way. Our determination dwindles and things become hopeless.

In this state, we prey. It's extremely powerful, it opens our heart to receive the lord's grace. Holding onto a chant helps people get through extreme difficulties. When our hearts really yearn, we will get what we want.

In verse 20 of Bhaja Govindam, we learn that we need to study the Bhagavad Gita and to workship Lord Krishnaso that we can gracefully accept death when it comes - we could possibly go beyond death.

Symbolically, the flow of the Ganga represents the flow of knowledge and devotion. To take a sip of that devotion is what we are urged to do. Workship is described in the Gita as to serve mankind. Service is true worship.

Swamini Supriyananda talks about the importance of studying the Bhagawad Gita. Many of us may not have the dispassion to stay in the Himalayas the way swamis do. We don't need to anymore, technology has enabled this for us. The student of the Gita is for us. It was also taught in the battlefield - in the middle of an extremely stressful situation. Gurudev even called it the Arjuna disease. Repetition of the Gita helps us make spiritual progress. We need to keep listening so that we don't forget.

True bliss is experienced on the inside. The story of Lord Ram is a great example of how it didn't matter whether he was in his grand palace or during exile in the forest.

We judge sages by their external traits such as their appearance and access to wealth but they don't judge themselves or us by that. They are firmly rooted in the infinite joy.

When we judge, we forget to see inside and only see the outside. If we could see inside, we will forget the outside.

We all have desires; desires we seek to fulfill. The ratio between the number of desires we fulfill to the total number of desires we have can be a measurement of our happiness. Swamini Supriyananda explains how the solution to infinite happiness lies within the denominator (our total number of desires); and how reducing that number guides us to the idealistic state of dispassion.