Vaisesika das: During the summer months, thousands of people visit scenic Pacific Beach in San Diego, California, some of them staying for a week or longer in the pricey rental apartments that line the shoreline.
As I took my daily walk along Pacific Beach this morning, I observed how vacationers there were doing their best to relish the ocean-side environment. Some lay out in the morning sun on the sandy beach, others jogged or rode bikes, while others sat at trendy sidewalk cafes, picking at their breakfasts while talking to friends and family.
My overall sense however, was that these vacationers had simply changed their location, but were going on with the same unfulfilling activities that they perform at home or anywhere else: eating, sleeping and mating. “Old wine in a new bottle.”
Many centuries ago, the great boy-saint Prahlada asked: “Where is the happiness everyone talks about? Who has actually attained it?”
Walking further along Pacific Beach, I particularly remembered Prahlada’s words upon seeing a man leaning on the railing of the balcony surrounding his rental apartment, sipping from a bottle of beer (at 10am in the morning!).
Although he was on vacation and free to do as he wished, I sensed sadness in this man’s face and demeanor.
When a soul – whose eternal home is in the spiritual world – mixes with the low modes of nature, his natural spiritual brightness is covered and his inherent freedom restricted. Without contacting specific and accurate information about how to attain spiritual elevation – and acting on that information – there’s no chance for souls in the material world to experience unfettered happiness.
Recently, I saw a bumper sticker that said: “Don’t believe everything your mind tells you.”
The conditioned mind tosses up many suggestions for our happiness. However, we needn’t (and shouldn’t) believe everything the mind tells us.
Rather, we should take the advice of Krishna, who knows better than we, or our minds, how we can become happy.
In Gita Krishna recommends: “One should therefore understand what is duty and what is not duty by the regulations of the scriptures. Knowing such rules and regulations, one should act so that he may gradually be elevated.” (Bg. 16.24)
Regulate the mind by consulting and following guru, sadhu and scripture. Such conscious regulation leads to unrestricted happiness.
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