Towards Consciousness

This is Age of Gaming.  It is a billions plus dollar industry which is ragingly fuelled by lost humans who are desperately seeking passionate engagements for the body and mind. While winning at any cost becomes a disease with this gaming culture – in the name of entertainment – we must understand that we have already lost the big game of life, if we don’t wake up and see the real reason why we are here. Why are we so attracted to these frivolous sports and other forms of amusement?  Is it really making us relaxed and happy?

By nature, we, the spirit souls, are satisfaction-seekers.  We need to experience all three dimensions of this principle to be fully satisfied – eternal existence, perfect knowledge and total pleasure. (sat, cit, ananda).  And to experience this principle, which we are fully entitled to, we have unfortunately taken to a deviant path and process.  This is how we disconnect from our original position in association with the Supreme Lord.  When this happens, anything that we make or create is just to enjoy independent of our relationship with God.  It is but just different flavors of a major sensual diversion and there are many governments and faiths which support such mindless indulgence, without teaching the science of the spirit soul.  It is said in Srimad Bhagavatam, that in this age, men are victims not only of different political creeds and parties, but also of many different types of sense-gratificatory diversions, such as cinemas, sports, gambling, clubs, mundane libraries, bad association, smoking, drinking, cheating, pilfering, bickerings, and so on. Their minds are always disturbed and full of anxieties due to so many different engagements. In this age, many unscrupulous men manufacture their own religious faiths which are not based on any revealed scriptures, and very often people who are addicted to sense gratification are attracted by such institutions. SB 1.1.10 : PURPORT

Many people think that religion or God Consciousness is meant for the old and disabled.  Generally, people think that childhood is meant for enjoying life by engaging oneself in sports and play, youth is meant for enjoying the company of young girls, and when one becomes old, at the time of death, then he may try to execute devotional service or a mystic yoga process. (Srimad Bhagavatam 4.8.32). 

Unless we begin to inquire about our real nature and position beyond this perishable body, we will never be able to have the right consciousness at the time of death.  Srila Prabhupada says in one of his lectures, “There is said to be two classes of men. One class of men is satisfied with his existence. He goes from one pleasure to another – from the cinema to the restaurant to sports, from one to the other. “I can’t wait to finish one to go to the next,” and still he’s saying, “I’m happy. I’m satisfied.” And there’s another class of men that is not satisfied. These men are searching, that there is always something on his mind. He is thinking, “There must be something behind all of this. That I can look at all of this as a unified whole.” So this first class of men will not want to take to spiritual knowledge, but the person who is inquisitive and is not satisfied with this material life, he can hear this knowledge submissively and derive great benefit from it. The symptom of the human being is that he is not satisfied. He’s disgusted, he’s searching.”  (Festival Lectures : Janmastami Lord Sri Krsna’s Appearance Day — Montreal, August 16, 1968)

And there are yet another category of people who believe they can achieve some perfection by practicing some yoga postures and that the current day yoga is a spiritual process.  But most people do not have an iota of an idea as to what yoga means and what the real meaning of that word is.  Clearly, this life is not eternal. The perfection of yoga means attaining a blissful, eternal life full of knowledge. All yoga systems should be executed with that goal in mind. It is not that one attends yoga classes to reduce fat or to keep the body fit for sense gratification. This is not the goal of yoga, but people are taught this way because they want to be cheated. Actually, if you undergo any exercise program, your body will be kept fit. There are many systems of bodily exercise—weight lifting and other sports—and they help keep the body fit, reduce fat, and help the digestive system. Therefore there is no need to practice yoga for these purposes. The real purpose for practicing yoga is to realize that I am not this body. I want eternal happiness, complete knowledge, and eternal life—that is the ultimate end of the true yoga system. (The Path of Perfection chapter 8)

Actually, we are all meant to play, dance and have fun in our eternal spiritual lives – and with none other than God Himself.  Those who humbly seek knowledge on this confidential pastimes of the Lord and the simple beautiful and transcendental life we can live in the spiritual world, in His very association, have also got a clear and simple process to achieve that goal.  It begins with cleansing of the dust on the consciousness.