How many of us remember our days in our mother’s womb? Although we spent 9 months there but we remember nothing. How many of us can recollect each and every moment of our life which we have spent till now? Of course we can remember in bits and pieces but not in entirety. In fact if we retrospect our life’s spent moments then it will pass in a flash. What does it convey? That the moment which is very precious to us now will lose its relevance in future and we will forget it. Not that we forget many incidents of this life but the Vedic books tells us that we have forgotten many lives which we have lived here in different forms and in different species. This is why when Arjuna, at the onset of the Mahabharata war, bemoans that his relatives will die then Krishna reminds him that as soul all living beings are eternal and so they will never die. When a soul loses its current bodily dress made of flesh then according to his karma he gets a new dress made of flesh. This repeated cycle of birth and death (soul getting new bodies) continues as long as we are in this world and here we have to work very hard for survival.
Krishna, the all good benevolent God does not like to see us in this precarious situation so he comes in this world with a solution which can eliminate all our sufferings for ever. One of the reasons for Krishna’s appearance is that he comes to annihilate the miscreants but most importantly he appears in this mortal world to disseminate the information about the secret of eternal happiness. He being the supreme controller, it is not very difficult for him to extricate the world from unworthy beings and he may accomplish it without descending in this world. But just like a caring father who can chat with his child who is in a hostel on skype where he can hear and see him but he still loves to go and meet his child and tries his best to make life comfortable for him, similarly Krishna comes in this world to meet us, his children, and invite us back to the spiritual world which is free from all sufferings – there is no death, no disease, no mental and physical suffering.
The ephemeral pleasure of this mortal world never satiates our heart. Moreover since our body deteriorates daily so our capacity to enjoy this world also diminishes day by day. This is why Krishna tells us not to be so obsessed with the worldly happiness and distress but to focus on permanent salvation. And for this, we can make the spiritual world our eternal home where happiness is everlasting. Krishna in Gita says that those who become part of his spiritual kingdom never come back to this material world, “Those who reach it never return to this material world” (Bhagavad Gita 15.6). This is the promise of Krishna, whom the Vedic books declare as the Supreme God – Krishna tu bhagavan svayam (Srimad Bhagavatam 1.3.28)
So why let go this wonderful opportunity. We should in fact utilize each and every moment of our life to purify our existence so that we gain the eligibility to become part of Krishna’s abode. On Krishna’s auspicious appearance day we can make a vow to bring Krishna in our life. And the best way to do is to start chanting sincerely the Hare Krishna Mahamantra – Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. We should not waste our time waiting for the right opportunity to start practicing devotional life because in this world there won’t be any perfect moment, we will always find ourselves busy in something or deprived of something. For e.g. a teenager has lots of time, lots of energy but hardly any money. A youth has money, energy but no time. And an old person has time and money but no energy. We will never find a favourable time to do the right thing. A boatman does not always wait for the wind to blow in a particular direction; instead he channelizes the energy of the wind to reach his desired destination. Similarly we can use any opportunity to spiritualize our life. Krishna’s invitation to return to his kingdom needs our immediate attention. In fact if we have a strong desire to spend rest of our life with Krishna then he promises that he will give us the know-how by which we can attain him – To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me (Bhagavad Gita 10.10)
