Lost Soul was homeless. He rarely spoke, but He listened to Crip. Crip was Lost Soul’s close friend. The nights were long and there was always fear or danger on the streets. “Got your back,” Crip said. He made plans for survival; meanwhile L. Soul grew sullen.
The two other companions to Lost Soul were Mind and Senses. Together they crouched in the doorways of abandoned buildings. Mind talked gibberish to distract Soul from his plight.
But it was Senses who served as L. Soul’s best distraction. Senses demanded any food, intoxication, or stimuli available. Soul could barely remember from day to day. Didn’t they used to share a condominium? Maybe a high-rise on the north end of town? Together they spent many lifetimes, Lost Soul, Crippled Intelligence, Mind and Senses, but not peacefully.
For a lost soul to feel a lack of ease in conditioned life is a matter of daily routine. Only some refuse to become accustomed to it.
Riding in the GPB
L. Soul had a useful conveyance, Gross Physical Body. He got it to travel with Crip, Mind and Senses. This very useful Gross Physical Body allowed them a variety of experiences, for learning the ways of the world, enjoying or suffering. It was a human GPB, a rare opportunity. Human life is meant for self-realization. Human life is meant for awakening God consciousness.
But Crip wouldn’t have it. He liked his scheming too well. So L. Soul, Crip, Mind and Senses toured the streets, sometimes begging, other times foraging or steeling. At dusk they parked the GPB in an empty vacant lot to chew old food.
Next to a chain link fence, L. Soul dozed off in the biting cold. Crip studied L. Soul, who seemed permanently embarrassed and distant. Crip became cautious, and he began to seriously question the condition of Lost Soul.
“Soul, you don’t seem as enthusiastic as you used to. Do you have amnesia?” he asked.
“I don’t remember,” said Soul.
Crip Begins his Questions
Pulling out a pocket copy of the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, L. Soul and Crip read together,
“The working senses are superior to dull matter; mind is higher than the senses; intelligence is still higher than the mind; and the soul is even higher than the intelligence.” (BG 3.42)
Crip asked,
“Who are you?”
“What!” Soul answered, completely startled.
“This is important, Soul. Do you know who you are?” asked Crip.
L. Soul stared through the fence. How could his old Crip ask such a question?
“I told you before, Crip, I don’t know.”
“All right, so listen up now. I am your intelligence, and this book here says it’s my duty to tell you. You remember when we found this in the subway? This is the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is. It describes you, Soul. I read it and I figured out why you’ve been so embarrassed so long. You don’t belong here! The heat and cold, the dirty clothes, the violence, the bad food, you’re not meant for this. You are higher, better, and you are eternally so.”
L. Soul did not react.
Crip laughed out loud. “Listen up, Lost Soul. I’ve been wrong about you all along. We finally found out who you are. Understand?”
L. Soul didn’t answer. Old Crip was up to something. Night had arrived so they settled in the GPB and tried to sleep.
A Study of the GPB
Morning came and Mind relished an idea.
“I know what! Let’s take the GPB over to Fifth Avenue. The dumpsters are full there! You know Crip, there’s the storefront with that big full length mirror…”
“No!” said Soul.
Crip chastised M. Mind. “You just never shut up, do you? Remember what happened last time? He can’t look in mirrors. Don’t bring that up again, M. Mind. Now he’s really disturbed.”
Crip puzzled for a while.
“L. Soul,” Crip said, “Let’s try something different. Do this. Raise your hand and have a glance at it.”
L. Soul shrugged.
“Common, L. Soul. Do what I say. Raise the arm, let’s have a good look at it.”
The arm appendage of the GPB went up.
“Look at it,” said Crip.
L. Soul pondered this GPB extension for some time. “Although it is attached to me, we are looking at it as something separate. Why?”
Crip asked, “Well is it you?”
“Is that me?” Soul asked, incredulous. “It’s just my arm, Crip!”
“Take another look.”
The arm sported by the GPB was grimy. Black hairs sprung out. Freckles and pock marks from childhood, scars, dirt and lesions from life on the street. He had not an occasion to carefully look upon his arm for many long years, so L. Soul was surprised to observe this assemblage. It appeared foreign.
“Sincerely I ask, Soul, is that you?”
“Why, no, Crip. It’s part of the GPB, not me.”
“O.k. now, go ahead and kick off your shoe.” said Crip.
“What? Oh, no,” said L. Soul.
“Oh common, the sun is rising now. You’ll have a good look in the light,” said Crip.
L. Soul removed his old shoe. Crip had him look at his foot, then his calf, then his knee. They also took into consideration the entire GPB.
“Are you the foot? Are you the calf? Are you your knee?” Crip asked.
“Not me, not me, not me!” came the reply, and a laugh.
“Then who are you?’
“Well, I see it, I wear it…” Soul trailed off to consider.
By process of elimination, L. Soul began to consider each part of his body as distinct from him. He was in fact an observer of his body.
“What if I am the brain!” L. Soul cried.
“If you are the brains then take them out of the GPB and see if it will still run, independent of me or Mind…”
L. Soul thought he could go no further, still further was his destiny.
“I think we are ready to check out Fifth Avenue,” Crip told M. Mind.
Mind was thrilled. They arrived at the storefront on Fifth Avenue and parked the GPB in front of the long mirror in the window of the department store. For the first time in years Lost Soul would look.
Countless people walked to and fro on the crowded city sidewalk, each sporting his/her own version of the GPB, but none on that fashionable avenue could bear to see this new stranger. Their various GPBs seemed so very well-deserved; he looked as though all merit had forsaken him.
The reflection in the mirror revealed a picture of destiny created by gross desire, but well draped in layers of cloth yellowed by sunlight and blackened by exhaust. The ears, mouth, nose and other apertures had also accumulated a dark covering.
The sun was rising and with the increasing light L. Soul became more and more eager to understand the vision before him. No matter the jostling from passersby, he would stay his ground and see what he had to see. Moreover, his old friend Crip stood by his side today like never before.
Suddenly he willed not to look any longer, not at all. But then Soul fancied gazing straight into the eyes of this distant creature, and he strained eagerly to remember Crip’s words as well:
“….this Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, it describes you, Soul. I figured out why you’re embarrassed so long. You don’t belong here! The heat and cold, the dirty clothes, the violence, the bad food, you’re not meant for this. You are higher, better, and you are eternally so.”
Amazing!
L. Soul wept, and he thought it self-pity, but no; there was the enchanting, blackish face of Krishna smiling at Arjuna to consider. How very, very kind is this Krishna, L. Soul thought. He cared so much for Arjuna that He guided him through sheer war, as Crip has tried to guide me.
The Hijack
Mind was subdued and awed by L. Soul’s feelings: how gentle and compassionate is Lord Krishna! What great fortune I have had to understand this indispensable message of Bhagavad-Gita!
“You! Out of my way!” sounded a GPB coming down the sidewalk.
Soul asked,
“Is it everyone’s destiny to understand the Self ?”
“Not everyone, unfortunately, is ready to understand, but you, my dear Lost Soul, have made some solid spiritual advancement today. Out of many, many thousands, only one may endeavor for this truth, and out of those, only one may seek perfection.
“Do not fear, Soul, you are unborn, eternal, undying and primeval. With this knowledge, no one can dissuade you now. You only inhabit the GPB, and you are not the GPB, not any more than a driver is his car, or a bird is his cage. Neither should you misidentify your Self with Master Mind and Uncontrolled Senses. You are an atomic part of the most fine, sublime spiritual energy constituted of complete bliss, full knowledge and eternal potency. You are the humble servant of Krishna.”
Yet as soon as Crip said this a secret hijack went into effect. An anonymous, forceful passenger in the GPB acted violently to defy the new advice from Crip. The first canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam identifies this troublemaker as Ahankara, aka, The Knot. It is he who binds the soul to matter via false ego. The Knot said,
“Wait a minute, Oh humble servant of Krishna! Who is this fairy tale hero you pretend to serve? Respect is due here; we’re in this together. You are a self- made man. If you try this spiritual bluff you will be ruined. We don’t serve anyone, do you hear? Mind and Senses will not tolerate this. Why is Crip referring you to some book authored by some other kind of Intelligence? You work with me and Crip, Soul, otherwise you are finished!” In a flash Ahankara the Knot tied up the passengers of the GPB with a rope and Soul felt a renewed agony.
“Again!” L. Soul cried out, “Just when I could have freed myself. Oh, God. Whoever they call You, Krishna? Krishna! Please! I don’t want this useless life again, please help me!” L.Soul cried aloud. He did not want to attract the attention of the people on Fifth Avenue. But his GPB broke down.
Listening to Antaryami
There is one most intimate friend who rides in everyone’s body in the region of the heart. His name is Antaryami, the Overseer and Permitter, the Supersoul. He is God incarnate as the Lord of the Heart, a smiling, blissful spiritual Supervisor who takes it as His duty to accompany every soul lost in the material world.
The Srimad Bhagavatam, second canto, describes Him thus,
His four hands carry a lotus, a wheel, a conch shell and a club respectively. His mouth expresses His happiness, His eyes spread like the petals of the lotus, and His garments, yellowish like the saffron of a kadamba flower, are bedecked with valuable jewels. His ornaments are all gold, set with jewels, and He wears a glowing headdress and earrings. His lotus-like feet are placed over the whorls of the lotus-like hearts of great mystics. His complete torso garlanded with fresh flowers and His oiled hair, with a bluish tint, are very pleasing. The Lord’s magnanimous pastimes and the glowing glancing of His smiling face are all indications of His extensive benedictions.
The Lord in the heart never interferes with one’s free will, but especially tries to give direction when a soul becomes weary of conditioned material existence. It was at this moment, a moment filled with very fine compassion, that Antaryami encouraged L. Soul to turn to Him. He indicated that it is time for L.Soul to please leave his burden of karma aside. He imbued L.Soul with His mercy, and His mercy is His most amazing quality. Lost Soul’s cooperation with Him is the precious beginning of bhakti-yoga, the dawn of the pure, natural love between God and every Soul.
Overwhelmed by emotion, Soul put his head down in his hands and muffled his voice so no one would hear him, praying to that blackish smiling face on the cover of the Bhagavad-Gita. “Oh, God. Oh Krishna, please help me, help me. If I can just know You, I will know the greatest happiness!” Soul prayed. “This GPB will find purpose. I’ll take it to the subway to where we found Your book. We’ll find the Hare Krishna monks again. I’ll ask if I can help…I will serve them…I will serve them…” His GPB shook as he sobbed.
A block away there was some music playing. L.Soul heard the singing, though very distracted. Unconsciously L. Soul willed the GPB in the direction of the sound coming nearer, but it shuddered, stuck. The voice of the approaching singer was filled with the love in his heart. The sound rose throughout the thoroughfare of GPBs on the Avenue.
Yet the pure whole heartedness of it was not received well. They simply had no time for it. Or did they? Some stood and smiled, one tapped his feet to the drum’s beat, the cymbal’s chime and the happy, dancing players. The lead singer sang with a gentle smile on his face, and a mellow sweetness slowly charmed the onlookers. There were a couple of curious L. Souls from 11 flights up who had come down on their coffee break to have a look and try the singing.
L.Soul tried to sing with them. Mind, Senses and Crip were satisfied. Ahankara the Knot lost his grip. So Soul decided to keep chanting, “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.” His happiness was like a flower blossoming. He found Krishna. The beautiful sound of Krishna cleansed him and invigorated his entire GPB. The Hare Krishna devotees greeted L. Soul and asked him to come back with them for a dinner.
“Ahankara!” cried L. Soul. “What purposes have you now? You old Knot! Are you not embarrassed by your behavior toward my actual Self?” L. Soul and the GPB danced in the spiritual ecstasy of self-relization. L.Soul steered the GPB down Fifth Avenue, calmly chanting the Hare Krishna mantra and following devotees of Lord Krishna.
(to be continued)
Comments