Many Indians, especially IT professionals and their parents, are broken hearted. The US government has increased H1B visa fee exorbitantly. So, now working in a Multinational Corporation in Silicon Valley in USA and earning in dollars have become very difficult.
Parents of IT professionals are also upset because they won’t get an opportunity to boast in front of their neighbours and relatives that my son (or daughter) is working in USA.
People think that living in a country economically better than India like USA will help them to live luxuriously and also happily. But luxury and happiness do not always go hand in hand. A rich man can be unhappy. And a not so rich man can be happy. Moreover, material luxury is never going to be our constant companion.
Everything material comes with an expiry date. For example, people work hard to get a degree so that they can get a dream job. But after few decades, he is asked to quit. His degree from a reputed institute, plethora of knowledge, work experience no longer has market value because he has reached a certain threshold age like 60 years.
What to talk about being forced to leave the job, a day comes when he is asked to leave his body too because his time to live in the body has expired.
This transition in a person’s life is not a phenomenon of a developing nation like India, but it also happens in economically well to do country like USA. Death spares none, neither rich or poor, men or women, H1B visa holder or those desperately waiting to get the visa.
When someone asked Prabhupada, “Why death rate in India is so high?” Prabhupada said, “Death rate is same everywhere – 100%.” Even if you go to moon or mars, you cannot live permanently there.
Krishna wants us to become part of his spiritual family
But for us, the residents of the material world, there is one place, if we go there, we can live permanently. That place is far more superior than USA or any planet of this universe. There we can live without any fear of deportation back to this material world. The visa to that place does not come with any expiry date. And most importantly the owner of that beautiful place, Krishna, is eager to have us there.
Krishna who is the Lord of all the universes – both spiritual and material – comes to invite us to that beautiful world where death and suffering does not exist. In that spiritual world Krishna lives happily with his devotees. And he wants us, the residents of the material world, to become part of that spiritual family. The eligibility to go to the spiritual world is also not too tough.
First and foremost, we should have strong desire to be there. Then as per the guidelines of Krishna and his devotees, we should sincerely chant Hare Krishna Mahamantra, stop all sinful activities like meat eating, intoxication, gambling and illicit sex.
By following this process our heart will become pure and the door to the spiritual world will open for us. So, why to be desperate to go to a country where we are not welcome? Instead, let us be desperate to go to Krishna’s abode where he is eagerly waiting for us.
Three Reflections
- Luxury and happiness do not always go hand in hand. A rich man can be unhappy. And a not so rich man can be happy.
- A day comes when we are asked to leave our body too.
- Krishna wants the residents of the material world to become part of his spiritual family.
Ask Yourself
- Are we eager to go back to the spiritual world?
Action Item
- Read description of the spiritual world from Srimad Bhagavatam – Description of the Kingdom of God
