Why we cannot see God

Every person, theist or agnostic or atheist has a desire to see God.  But only a very few people in this world have claimed to have "ACTUALLY" seen God.

So why is that?

Is it that we have to become extremely exalted devotees of God in order to see Him?

Yes and no.

The very first example of seeing God comes in the form of the Bhagavad Gita itself.  Arjuna who was the constant companion of Krsna and was regularly seeing him nearly every day, failed to see that Krsna was the Supreme Lord!  Only after hearing the words of the Bhagavad Gita and Krsna displaying his Supreme form by giving Arjuna "spiritual vision" was Arjuna able to truly recognize that Krsna was the Supreme Personality of Godhead!

Therefore, even though Krsna had personally descended to Earth to see his devotees, his close friends and companions could STILL not see Him!! 

So what does this mean?  It means that we must "see the forest for the trees".  When Krsna descended to this Earth, both non-devotees and devotees alike were able to view Krsna's material form!  Krsna was so merciful that even demonic personalities such as Kamsa and Duryodhana could easily see Krsna on a regular basis with no special powers of vision or perception.  Even though Krsna exists in this material planet, it is up to us for us to recognize Him.  For the extremely fortunate, Krsna reveals Himself to them by providing them with spiritual vision, but many other can perceive Him with their very own material eyes/vision!

The same thing happened once again when Lord Caitanya appeared on Earth a few hundred years ago.  Only a very few people could recognize Lord Caitanya as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Now that we have been given this information, are there any other obstacles or roadblocks in our path that prevent us from seeing God?

Of course!  Even when we see Him manifest his power, we refuse to believe that we are worthy of receiving His mercy and attention!  In some cases, we even outright deny that such a thing is possible!

Bhakti Sundar Swami narrates a story whereby a nightclub owner wishes to expand his property and despite protests from the nearby church is successfully able to build out and extend his nightclub.  During this time, the churchgoers are vehemently praying to the Lord to not allow this to occur.  Finally, when the nightclub is completely built out, a series of natural disasters completely destroy the extension!  When the nightclub owner then takes the church to court and they are asked by the nightclub owner and the judge as to whether or not they prayed to the Lord to allow this to happen, the churchgoers once again vehemently deny that their prayers could have allowed this to occur!!

In this instance, a seemingly atheistic person believes in the power of prayer while the theistic churchgoers deny the power of prayer!

This occurs throughout the world.  People regularly witness the power of the Lord, but always deny their observations.  Nevertheless, we see terminology arise to describe this phenomenon such as chain reaction, domino effect and more meaningfully--butterfly effect.

In the example given above, the butterfly effect was triggered by the power of prayer which led to the eventual set of natural disasters that destroyed the nightclub owner's extended property!

 An even more tangible example of why we cannot see the Lord is because we cannot see the Creator in His creations.

When someone holds an iPhone or an iPad, nearly everyone on the planet can identify this device as the creation of Apple or Steve Jobs.  If someone uses a Windows PC, they identify this OS as a creation of Bill Gates.

However, how many people in the world have met or seen Steve Jobs or Bill Gates?

Only a select few people in the world have seen or met these individuals.  We may have seen them in pictures or on some websites or on television, but that is sufficient for us to believe that they exist.  Why does nobody deny that Steve Jobs and Bill Gates exist or existed?  Steve Jobs is now dead but how many people will deny that Steve Jobs ever lived?  History books are full of people that have lived in the past and we regularly unassumingly accept that these historical figures have lived and existed.

When it comes to material creations, we can readily accept and see the creators in the creations.  However, when it comes to God, we cannot do the same.  We see pictures and illustrations of Krsna all over the world, yet we do not believe He exists.  We regularly see all of the living beings Krsna has created, we see and learn about the vastness of the Universe and the planetary systems.  We even see Him answer our prayers!  So, why cannot we apply this same tenet to all of our beliefs rather than applying this knowledge one-sidedly?

When it comes to experiences related by others, we often accept the experiences of others without question.  If someone states that they injured a limb or broke a bone, we simply nod our head in agreement.  Yet, when someone has a religious experience such as a paranormal dream or a witness of events that seemingly defy common experiences and scientific knowledge, we are quick to dismiss these experiences.  We only believe what we can personally see or experience when it comes to God.

Perhaps this is because we know that our senses can deceive us and therefore we inwardly lack faith in them.  Many people have experienced mirages while driving on the road and seeing a non-existent puddle of water.  In addition, hallucinations provide us with sensory perceptions which we know do not exist.  If someone see or hears something that others cannot see or hear, the person is readily labeled mad or insane.

Even if we decide to discount a single user's religious experience, it becomes nearly impossible to deny similar religious experiences that occur throughout the planet for people of all different religious beliefs.  If it is an isolated incident, it becomes easier to dismiss, but if it occurs time and time again throughout history, it becomes more indicative of an underlying thread of commonality that hints at the power of the Supreme Lord.

Consequently, it is not that Krsna has not "shown" Himself to us, but rather that we have either denied or refused to accept that we have seen Him.  Krsna has been so merciful that he reveals Himself to all people of the world regardless of whether or not they choose to believe in Him.  The only thing that remains is for us to take the leap of faith to understand that we are really observing Him through the course of our normal material human lives.

Hare Krsna!

Why we cannot accept our Karma

In recent years, Karma has become a common term for basically getting your "just desserts" or "what comes around, goes around", "every action causes an equal and opposite reaction", or "as you sow so shall you reap".

The dictionary definition of Karma is: "the sum of a person's actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences."

Throughout the Bhagavad Gita, Krsna explains the results of "fruitive activities" and their consequent results.

Therefore, whatever fruitive activities (good or bad) that we have performed in this or past lives, we will now have to reap in this life.  We are getting our "just dues" and meting out our punishment.

If we understand the concept of Karma, why is it so hard for us to accept?

As many parents know, we punish our kids so that they learn their lesson and refrain from performing that activity again.  For example, if a child attempts to put their finger or hand into an open flame, one of 2 things will usually occur:

1. The parent will severely scold the child for attempting to injure himself/herself and perhaps even provide some other form of punishment so that the child does not attempt this again.
2. The child will feel the heat of the flame and immediately draw their hand away after getting burned.  The parent may then react by stating "You have learned your lesson so that you will not do that again." 

In many cases, we will even tell our kids "You have to accept/face your punishment for your bad behavior".  We do not let our children off the hook so easily for violating rules of good behavior.

 As adults, if a person performs a criminal activity, we are very quick to condemn that person before the law and in many cases suggest that the person be given the death penalty for his/her crime.  At this time also, we do not hesitate to recommend punishments for others.

However, as soon as we face that punishment ourselves, we suddenly become forlorn and question why we are receiving that punishment in the form of our Karma.  Why do we not hold ourselves to the same principles by which we examine and treat others?

From a moral perspective, if we do something wrong, many individuals will experience a "guilty conscience" for performing that immoral activity.  If we examine stories such as the "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe, we know that sometimes a guilty conscience can be far worse than the immoral activity itself and even lead to madness or insanity!  The character in "The Tell-Tale Heart" would have much rather been punished for his crime than suffer the torture of his guilty conscience!

By examining it in this light, punishment for some act of wrongdoing is far better than facing a guilty conscience that can haunt you for as long as a lifetime.  Since your conscience is constantly with you, it will constantly remind you of your wrongdoing.

Due to this, we often hear the phrase "clear your conscience".  What does that mean, exactly?  To either confess our wrongdoing or face our punishment for our wrongdoing!

Thus, our Karma is Krsna's method of "clearing our conscience"!

Given this information, why is it still so difficult to face and accept our Karma?

The answer is simple: "We do not know what we did wrong"!  Since we are being punished for something which we did in a previous lifetime, we feel unjustly or unfairly treated and will often ask the question "Why me"?

If we punish our children in the same manner, they will always ask "What did I do wrong"?  In the criminal world, people would state that they are being "framed"--an innocent person is being accused or punished for a crime he/she did not commit.  The criminal justice system is very concerned about punishing innocent persons such that the American Criminal Justice System bases its premise on "innocent, until proven guilty".

So our premise for not facing our Karma is that we are basically good and innocent people and as a result, we should not be facing any bad or sinful reactions.

But if we look at it from the perspective of a clear conscience, we can more clearly understand why Krsna has designed our Karma in such a manner that we must face our punishment without knowing our act(s) of wrongdoing.

For example, if we were to remember all of the history of our past lives as well as all of the actions that we performed or committed in our past lives, how would that affect our present lives?  In the story of Jada Bharata from the Srimad Bhagavatam, we clearly know that Jada Bharata immediately regretted his past actions and repented for them by focusing his efforts on remembering and meditating upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Jada Bharata led a relatively sinless life in his past life, but we may not have led such sinless lives in our previous/former births.  What if we had been very violent in our past lives by butchering animals or even murdering people?  How would that affect the present life that we are leading?  Would not those memories completely alter our outlook on our present life?  At a bare minimum, we would constantly regret and repent for our actions during the entire course of our lifetimes.  Perhaps these memories would even haunt us throughout our lives and even drive us towards madness just as it did the character in "The Tell-Tale Heart"?

Krsna knows this very well, hence, he has made us "forget" our past births.  So not knowing our previous actions and wrongdoing is a form of Krsna's pure love and mercy.  We must still follow the laws of Karma, but even in facing the laws of Karma, we are benefactors of Krsna's mercy.

Knowing that, does that make facing our Karma that much easier to bear?  It certainly does, but, it may not be enough for neophyte devotees just coming to Krsna Consciousness.

Krsna is so merciful that he offers even more consolation to his devotees in the form of his advice to King Yudhisthira.

The conversation proceeds as follows:

King Yudhisthira: Those who propitiate Shiva easily enjoyed the pleasure of prosperity while the devotees of Vishnu have a life of struggle.  The two deities Shiva and Vishnu are diametrically opposed to each other.  Shiva is the god of destruction while Vishnu is the protector but their favors on their devotees are contrary to their character.  Why is it so?

Krsna:  Brahma and Shiva, the creative and destructive powers of the world have a highly volatile temper which can be emotionally manipulated favorable or otherwise without much effort.  Whatever be their reaction to the actions of the devotees, it is only in relation to worldly matters.  The boons thus received, in particular from Shiva, lead to more entanglement in actions and increase the possibility of subjecting us to their anger or pleasure.  A boon or curse cannot be retrieved or made ineffective.

I confer favors in an entirely different manner.  My efforts are aimed at drawing my devotees away from any kind of involvement with the material world.  My devotees go through great difficulties before they succeed to attain dispassionate attitude.  In the process of distancing themselves from the transient attachments, they experience a superficial sense of loss and suffering.

When once the mind is cultivated and trained towards detachment, the aspirant realizes the insignificance of emotional gratification or disappointment.  Once these prove to be meaningless, mental cravings become non-existent.  They attain absolute bliss.

Relatives and friends are only fair weather friends.  They would offer no consolation or encouragement at times of need.  Besides, they would prefer keeping away from any obligation.  Association with pious people will stand in good stead and help one to rise above the apparent changes in circumstances dispassionately.  There will be spiritual bliss, transporting you to the highest abode free from rebirth.

Based on Krsna's reply, we can begin to understand that our Karma as devotees of Krsna is to achieve "true" and ultimate happiness.  In this world, we are constantly trading or exchanging things for something better.  We may trade-in an old car for a new one, an old smartphone for a new one or quitting an old job for a better one.

In this case, Krsna is once again exhibiting his mercy by trading our material happiness for lasting spiritual happiness.

Our Karma is just a bump in the road on the highway to happiness.  We may not enjoy experiencing our Karma while it lasts but knowing that the situation is only temporary and will lead us to something much better softens the blow.  

Therefore, the light at the end of the tunnel for people/devotees facing their Karma, is "just be patient, something better is coming along"!

Krsna Consciousness

One who is not disturbed in mind even amidst the threefold miseries or elated when there is happiness, and who is free from attachment, fear and anger, is called a sage of steady mind.

The word muni means one who can agitate his mind in various ways for mental speculation without coming to a factual conclusion.  It is said that every muni has a different angle of vision, and unless a muni differs from other munis, he cannot be called a muni in the strict sense of the term.  But a sthita-dhir muni, as mentioned herein by the Lord, is different from an ordinary muni.  The sthita-dhir muni is always in Krsna consciousness, for he has exhausted all his business of creative speculation.  He is called prasanta-nihsesa-mano-rathantara, or one who has surpassed the stage of mental speculations and has come to the conclusion that Lord Sri Krsna, or Vasudeva, is everything.  He is called a muni fixed in mind.  Such a fully Krsna conscious person is not at all disturbed by the onslaughts of the threefold miseries, for he accepts all miseries as the mercy of the Lord, thinking himself only worthy of more trouble due to his past misdeeds; and he sees that his miseries, by the grace of the Lord, are minimized to the lowest.  Similarly, when he is happy he gives credit to the Lord, thinking himself unworthy of the happiness; he realizes that it is due only to the Lord's grace that he is in such a comfortable condition and able to render better service to the Lord.  And, for the service of the Lord, he is always daring and active and is not influenced by attachment or aversion.  Attachment means accepting things for one's own sense gratification, and detachment is the absence of such sensual attachment.  But one fixed in Krsna consciousness has neither attachment nor detachment because his life is dedicated in the service of the Lord.  Consequently, he is not at all angry even when his attempts are unsucessful.  Success or no success, a Krsna conscious person is always steady in his determination.

Nature of love and sexuality

In the Bhagavad Gita in Chapter 3 regarding Karma Yoga, we find this verse:

Bg 3.37 — The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material mode of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring sinful enemy of this world.

In this world we commonly associate love with sexuality as well as lust with sexuality.  However, the Bhagavad Gita refers to lust in a much more broad context.  Lust can be manifested in a variety of ways including lusting after possessions or material wealth.  

However, in the most common context of lust regarding sexuality, we can curb this desire through transformation of this into divine love.  In the 1960s, there was a concept or notion of "free love".  Though that was commonly meant to mean uninhibited sex, it could also mean the concept of unconditional and selfless love.  In married or committed relationships, love and sexuality are generally considered synonymous.  Only outside of committed or loving relationships is the concept of sexuality without love considered.

There is a common saying that "everyone wants to be loved".  Everyone is looking to find love in some form or another.  Some humans find it through sexuality, other through relationships and yet others find it through God or religion.  

But as the Bhagavad Gita states, if we attach ourselves in loving devotion to God, all other love will come to us.  God always loves unconditionally since all human beings are created in his image and are part and parcel of the Supreme Lord.  If we love our fellow human beings in a manner similar to God (unconditionally), we will always be supremely happy.  Common literature including books such as A Tale of Two Cities speak of unrequited love, but unrequited love can really be considered synonymous with unconditional love or the love of God.  Love is always believed to require reciprocation, but that is not the case.  Those who do not know God or do not even have the capacity to know and realize God (including animals, plants etc.)  are all still loved by God.  

Therefore, if we love and are attached to God and consequently love human beings regardless of whether or not that love is reciprocated, we will always be supremely happy.  We will always be able to find love.  And if we share that love with all other human beings, we will eventually find that one love which is reciprocated and makes all the love shared with other human beings worthwhile.  

This is clearly evidenced by the tremendous number of songs and writings all centered on the concept of love.  In the words of the Beatles, "All you need is love, love is all you need, love is all you need."

Star Wars and the Bhagavad Gita

I was just recently watching the Star Wars series on the Sci-Fi Channel and began to notice the religious allegory in the storyline that I had never noticed before.

After doing some searching on the Internet, I found this article that seemed very interesting:

http://www.chron.com/entertainment/movies/article/Many-faiths-see-religious-allegory-in-Star-Wars-1919344.php

One thing I found very interesting in the article was that there was no mention of the Bhagavad Gita in the passage at all.  Therefore, I thought it might be worthwhile to add some clarification to some of the mentions made in the article:

Much of the debate centers on the nature of the Force, which Lucas told Time magazine in 1983 was God. Sixteen years later, Lucas told Bill Moyers that he put the Force into Star Wars "to try to awaken a certain kind of spirituality in young people — more a belief in God than a belief in any particular religious system."
If we look through the passages of the Bhagavad Gita, we can find many references that explain directly what George Lucas describes:
http://vedabase.com/en/bg/18
Bg 18.66 — Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.
The article refers to no particular religion in reference to God, just an overall spirituality.  The Bhagavad Gita, while traditionally associated with Hinduism, indicates that all varieties of religion are acceptable to follow the principles of the Bhagavad Gita.

In fact, if you read the entire passages of the Bhagavad Gita available here: http://vedabase.com/en/bg, you will be able to find suitable comparisons for nearly all of the characters in the movie including Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Princess Leia, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Han Solo, The Force etc.

While someone can easily write entire volumes on the allegory of Star Wars (as some authors already have done), I will provide just a few brief examples from the Bhagavad Gita and leave the rest to those interested in further research and investigation:

1. Luke Skywalker--Devotee of God such as Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita
2. Obi-Wan Kenobi/Yoda-Gurus of the Devotee/Lord Krsna
3. Darth Vader-Duryodhana as well as Lord Krsna/God (Lord Vader saves Luke in Return of the Jedi)
4. The Empire-The Kaurava Forces
5. The Rebel Forces-The Pandava Forces
6. The Emperor-Dhritishtrashta
7. Princess Leia-Draupadi
8. Chewbacca-Bheem

Perhaps in a future blog post I may be able to elaborate further on these various references as well as relate to the specific passages in the Bhagavad Gita, but that's all for now! :-)

Surrendering all activities to God

In the Bhagavad Gita, there is a verse that states

"O scion of Bharata, surrender unto Him utterly.  By His grace you will attain transcendental peace and the supreme and eternal abode."

Many religious believers from all varieties of religions have understood and embraced this concept wholeheartedly.  They believe that all activities that they perform occur as a direct result of the grace of God.  This includes all sorts of activities ranging from their work duties as well as their household duties.

We see this activity frequently reflected in all types of mediums from work activities to household computer activities.  By offering all these types of activities to God, one becomes purified of sins in a manner similar to offering food to God by saying "Grace" before consuming food.

If we take upon ourselves the daily practice of offering all of our activities to God, by gradual degrees we can continue to be purified and cleansed of our sins and therefore come to see and realize God.

Free from attachment

One who is not disturbed in mind even amidst the threefold miseries or elated when there is happiness, and who is free from attachment, fear and anger, is called a stage of steady mind.

The word muni means one who can agitate his mind in various ways for mental speculation without coming to a factual conclusion.  It is said that every muni has a different angle of vision, and unless a muni differs from other munis, he cannot be called a muni in the strict sense of the term.  But a sthita-dhir muni, as mentioned herein by the Lord, is different from an ordinary muni.  The sthita-dhir muni is always in Krsna consciousness, for he has exhausted all his business of creative speculation.  He is called prasanta-nihsesa-mano-rathantara, or one who has surpassed the stage of mental speculations and has come to the conclusion that Lord Sri Krsna, or Vasudeva, is everything.  He is called a muni fixed in mind.  Such a fully Krsna conscious person is not at all disturbed by the onslaughts of the threefold miseries, for he accepts all miseries as the mercy of the Lord, thinking himself only worthy of more trouble due to his past misdeeds; and he sees that his miseries, by the grace of the Lord, are minimized to the lowest.  Similarly, when he is happy he gives credit to the Lord, thinking himself unworthy of the happiness; he realizes that it is due only to the Lord’s grace that he is in such a comfortable condition and able to render better service to the Lord.  And for the service of teh Lord, he is always daring and active and is not influenced by attachment or aversion.  Attachment means accepting things for one's own sense gratification, and detachment is the absence of such sensual attachment.  But one fixed in Krsna consciousness has neither attachment nor detachment because his life is dedicated in the service of the Lord.  Consequently he is not at all angry even when his attempts are unsuccessful.  Success or no success, a Krsna conscious person is always steady in his determination.