By Yudhisthira Dasa
DUALITIES
In this world full of dualities, light and darkness are part of daily life. To create context for this article, let’s travel beyond the light and dark of the physical world, but existentially embrace this metaphor of the light and dark web for staying in the “light” spiritually. For more context, when we refer to being in the “light” as a goal, we are not referring to the impersonal brahmajyoti, but rather the perfection of achieving Krishna bhakti by opening our hearts to reconnect to our eternal unconditional love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supreme Individual. In other words, our tradition clearly states that we will never be fully satisfied by immersing ourselves at a great distance from the One Divine Supreme Person, where we reside in the “glow” of His presence; rather, through a relationship with Him as a Person upon whom universes rest. The analogy Srila Prabhupada offered compares the Person God to the sun planet, and the effulgence of God as the sun rays or impersonal aspect of the Supreme Person.
THE BROKEN ANGEL
Here’s a vivid example of the choices we have to attach metaphysical or spiritual meaning to life’s experiences. A few years ago, I was at a neighborhood garage sale and saw a concrete form of a child-angel bending over with head in hands. One of its stone wings was partially broken off. To me, this angel looked sad and in despair. We are all sad at various times and for various reasons. I created the story that this angel was crying not only from her injury, but first and foremost from the suffering of so many living entities in this material world. I related to this perceived sadness. I purchased it and placed it in a prominent place in my office. Every day, I would share any sadness I felt with this child-angel (misery loves company, right?). However, over time, I felt like I was absorbing its despair in return. Fast forward to this year and a recent epiphany. Realizing that I no longer wanted to stay connected to this apparently “sad” angel statue, I moved it out of my office and shared this reflection with my wife. This is where it gets interesting.
My wife is one of those rare souls who (most of the time) wakes up with a big smile on her face! By nature, I am much more stoic. When I told her about deciding to move the “sad” child-angel out of my daily view and why, she was totally surprised! She had always viewed this child-angel from a completely different perspective. She saw the angel crying tears of love and devotion.
This is what we mean by living in the “Light Web” instead of the dark one, which I was visiting daily in my mind. She saw the angel’s tears coming from love and devotion for Radha and Krishna. I saw tears of suffering and sadness for the condition of this material world.
Read more: https://iskconnews.org/coming-of-age-26-enter-the-light-web-not-the-dark-one/
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