The senses may be windows to the world, but they are mere portholes to reality

A window gives us the sensation that we are looking at a large part of the outside world through it. In contrast, a porthole, being a small window in a ship, reminds us that we are getting a bare peek at the large reality out there.

Our senses seem like windows to the world around us. Information from the world streams in to us through the senses, making us feel that we know or can know a lot about that world. This feeling of increased access to the world is further boosted by science, which starts with the information provided by the senses and theorizes to make sense of that information. Yet that very science suggests that there’s much more to reality than what is visible. For example, astrophysics holds that more than 95% of the universe is composed of invisible stuff called dark matter. Thus, even according to science, our senses give us only a tiny glimpse of reality.

Acknowledging that the senses are mere portholes to reality opens us to Gita wisdom. The Bhagavad-gita (15.10) stresses that the soul can be seen only with the eyes of knowledge. This principle that the senses can’t perceive the spiritual applies all the more so to the supreme soul, Krishna, who is infinite.

Nonetheless, the Gita (10.41) indicates that everything attractive reflects a spark of Krishna’s all-attractiveness. If we see the world’s attractive objects as independent sources of pleasure, our senses will act as doorways to illusion. But if we see those objects’ attractiveness as pointers to Krishna’s all-attractiveness – as we learn to see by the Gita’s eyes of knowledge – then our senses will serve as portholes to the highest spiritual reality. We will feel inspired to practice bhakti-yoga intensely to increasingly relish Krishna’s eternal all-attractiveness.

Failure is not catastrophic – to see failure as catastrophic is catastrophic

Our mind often makes problems seem worse than what they actually are. Suppose someone fails in an exam. Their mind may tell them that their failure proves that they are not good enough, for education or even for life itself. If they become so disheartened as to give up on life, that suicidal quitting is catastrophic.

When we fail at something, the mind often catastrophizes such failures. It berates us that we are good-for-nothing and that our failure proves that we will never be good for anything. Being battered thus by the mind, we lose the spirit to do what we could otherwise have done for dealing with the problem. Consequently, the situation worsens; the mind uses that worsened situation to beat us even more; and we end up paralyzed. Eventually, our seeing the failure as a catastrophe is what makes it a catastrophe.

We can counter the mind’s dystopia by internalizing Gita wisdom. The Gita explains that we are at our core indestructible souls. Whatever things go wrong are going wrong in the body or the world, which is ultimately peripheral to our essential self. Moreover, we have an eternal relationship with the supreme spiritual being, Krishna, who loves us always, no matter what goes wrong or even what we do wrong. The Bhagavad-gita (05.20) states that those who are situated in spiritual knowledge are not shaken by upheavals.

Our spiritual self-understanding gives us the inner security necessary to see things in perspective. We learn to view the reversal objectively. Instead of letting the mind unwarrantedly extrapolate from one failure to a blanket self-condemnation, we calmly discern how to best rectify the situation. Being no longer weighed down by our mental perception of the problem, we can use our energy optimally for responding effectively to the actual problem.

To lose one’s reason is bad, but to lose everything except one’s reason is far worse

Our reason, our rational faculty, is vital for keeping us intelligently regulated and purposefully directed in life. The use of reason has assisted in the development of many influential fields of knowledge such as science. If we lose our reason, we become sentimental and gullible, vulnerable to imprudent or even self-destructive choices.

Losing our reason is dangerous, but danger lies at the other extreme too – in losing everything except our reason. For example, the Nazis used reason to rationalize the Holocaust. They appropriated the prevalent theory of social Darwinism to convince themselves that they, the Nazis, were earth’s fittest race and that the Jews, whom they saw as their nemesis, were an unfit race that nature would eliminate in due course amidst the survival of the fittest. They saw their gas chambers simply as ways of helping nature in its evolutionary course. Their unidimensional devotion to their version of reason desensitized them to the monstrous atrocities they were inflicting on millions of Jews.

Reason, when made into a god, can make us unfeeling automatons who perpetrate unconscionable deeds remorselessly. The natural brainchild of reason is doubt: doubt towards anything that doesn’t submit itself to reason. When reason becomes our life’s sole arbiter, we doubt and discard other valid and valuable forms of knowing such as conscience, intuition, common sense, scriptural revelation and spiritual experience. The Bhagavad-gita (04.40) cautions that those who submit uncritically to doubt get happiness neither in this world nor the next.

Rather than granting reason monopoly over our life, we need to integrate it in a holistic life. Bhakti-yoga assists in such integration by enabling us to use all our faculties, including our reason, to connect lovingly with the supreme source of everyone, Krishna, thereby developing an empathic vision towards all.

Regulation is the foundation for purification

Suppose we had to clean a water tank. We would need to do two things: clean the water already in the tank and regulate the water flowing into it. If dirty water were allowed to flow in unrestrictedly, then despite the best cleaning, the tank would still remain unclean.

Like a water tank that needs cleaning, our consciousness needs purification; we need to purge it of base impressions for selfish, shortsighted indulgence so that we, as eternal spiritual beings, can actualize our potential for lasting fulfillment. To cleanse our consciousness, we need to expose it to pure stimuli. The best such stimulus is the supreme spiritual reality, God, Krishna, who is supremely pure and supremely purifying. Consistent connection with him can purify even the most contaminated consciousness.

Simultaneously, we need to avoid further exposure to impure, agitating stimuli. The Bhagavad-gita, while outlining how to control selfish desires (03.36-43), stresses that we need to begin by regulating our senses (03.41). Such regulation prevents the further contamination of our consciousness. Though we can’t avoid all contact of the senses with the sense objects, we can certainly minimize it to the essential.

Won’t such regulation seem like deprivation? Not if it is the springboard for connecting with a source of higher satisfaction. Pertinently, the Gita reminds us of our spiritual identity (03.42) and urges us to use our intelligence for situating ourselves on the spiritual platform (03.43). The most easy and effective way to become spiritually situated is by practicing bhakti-yoga (08.14). This yoga of love connects us with Krishna, who is the source of unlimited happiness. That connection enables us to gradually and increasingly relish life’s supreme happiness. The Gita (06.27) confirms that steady spiritual discipline enables us to find the ultimate joy.

Thus, regulation sets the ground for purification and ultimately the supreme satisfaction.

Don’t depress yourself – depress your expectation from yourself

 A child who wants to become a long-jump champion needs to start by taking tiny jumps that may seem negligibly ordinary. But for that child, those small jumps are practical, tangible, valuable steps forward.

Whenever we strive to achieve something worthwhile or glorious, we may fail.

That failure can dishearten and depress us. To avoid such depression, we need to recognize that more important than success is progress. If we develop a steady momentum of moving from where we are toward where we want to go, we will, sooner or later, reach where we are meant to be.

Based on our natures, talents and circumstances, we all have different starting points – what may be easy for someone else may not be so easy for us. If we disregard or deny this reality, we succumb to one of the two sides of the counterfeit coin of ego-induced temptation: unrealistic expectation (“I am so great”) and unwarranted depression (“I am so worthless”).

To resist such temptation, we need to depress our expectations. Depressing our expectations doesn’t mean licensing lethargy or apathy; it simply means acknowledging that long journeys are traversed through small steady steps, not through sudden stunning leaps. An attitude of humble realism towards our present status and capacity can help us build the momentum of steady progress that will eventually engender success.

This principle applies to spiritual growth too. The Bhagavad-gita (04.38) indicates that the ability to relish inner happiness through spiritual knowledge develops over time. In the same vein, the Gita (06.25-26) urges us to repeatedly strive for bringing the mind towards the spiritual without unrealistically expecting spiritual absorption overnight. Such sustained practice will eventually make us pacified, purified and satisfied (06.27-28).

By depressing our expectation from success to progress, we can resist the temptation of depression and progress towards success.

Bhakti is beyond feminism – and beyond male chauvinism too

Gender roles are becoming increasingly intermingled and blurred nowadays. Conservatives blame feminism for various social problems such as marital ruptures and teenage delinquency. Liberals counter that male chauvinism has caused far bigger social problems such as domestic violence and bridal burnings.

When people with such orientations start practicing bhakti, they often stress their orientations within their conception of bhakti. Thus, some hold that non-traditional ideologies such as feminism have caused the lack of spirituality among women and thereby in all of society; so, social re-spiritualization requires the repudiation of feminism. Others counter that today the lack of spirituality plagues men too, who would only exploit women if the clock were turned back; better to not position bhakti as antagonistic to influential social trends such as feminism.

Either way, such attacks and counter-attacks risk missing the problem: misdirected consciousness. The Bhagavad-gita (15.07) explains that we all are souls, parts of Krishna, and are meant to love and serve him. Be we men or women, conservatives or liberals, if we don’t live harmoniously with Krishna, our consciousness gets misdirected by our mind and senses. These inner agents of illusion torment us with various desires and conceptions. And goaded by their torment, we end up acting in ways that torment others. Amidst such internal and external torment, worldly conceptions such as feminism or male chauvinism often become convenient whipping boys.

Ultimately, bhakti is transcendental to all worldly conceptions – it is the human heart’s loving connection with the divine heart. Whatever our personal disposition or social position, we all can cultivate bhakti. When we focus on practicing bhakti-yoga diligently, the resulting deepened devotion will make us more open to Krishna’s inner guidance (10.10). With such spiritualized intelligence, we will understand how we can best act as parts of the solution, not parts of the problem.

In bhakti, understanding and practice are not just sequential, but also symbiotic

When we understand how some process works, say, how a particular fitness regimen works, our motivation to practice it increases. Thus, understanding inspires and intensifies practice.

From understanding to practice is frequently the sequence of our spiritual growth too. We may be introduced to bhakti philosophy through some books or classes. On understanding the philosophy’s cogency, we may start practicing bhakti-yoga practice diligently.

But in some cases, practice may precede understanding, as happens especially for those born or brought up in a devotional culture. Deference to that culture may make them practice bhakti. Later, if they comprehend bhakti’s intellectual depth, such comprehension can strengthen their practice.

Thus, deepening our understanding of bhakti is always helpful, both for starters and practitioners.

Still, we needn’t make our bhakti practice conditional to understanding. Why not? Because bhakti centers on the supreme reality, Krishna, who is greater than the intelligence. So, some bhakti principles can lie beyond the ken of the intelligence. Such principles may seem contradictory, but they are actually paradoxical. Instead of struggling intellectually to decipher such paradoxes, we can focus on practicing bhakti. Bhakti practice will purify and elevate our consciousness, thereby granting us a higher perspective to better appreciate how the paradoxes are true.

Pertinently, the Bhagavad-gita (18.55) states that only through bhakti is Krishna understood. Here the sequence is reversed: rather than practice being boosted by understanding, practice bestows understanding. This reverse sequence is reiterated in the Gita (10.10): for devoted practitioners, Krishna grants the intelligence to come to him.

That understanding and practice can both boost each other underscores their symbiotic relationship. If we strive to do both, each according to our capacity, Krishna will reciprocate mercifully. And his infinite capacity will empower us to grow spiritually far beyond what we had presumed was our capacity.