Don’t just give up fallible shelters – seek the infallible
shelter by Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 03
People often think of spiritual life in terms of giving up
things – worldly possessions, activities, relationships, emotions and shelters.
And as such giving up often entails a sense of loss and deprivation, they often
stay fearful of taking up spiritual life seriously.
While renunciation is a part of spiritual life, it is not
the essence – the essence is a higher spiritual connection with the supreme
spiritual reality, Krishna. How such a connection is the culmination of
spiritual life is seen in the progression of the Bhagavad-gita
The Gita (03.18) urges us to give up all shelters. Yet it
later (07.01) asks us to take shelter of Krishna. And it (18.66) conclusively
calls us to take shelter of him alone.
Let’s understand the principle underlying this progression.
Whatever we seek relief in amidst distress is our shelter. An infant takes
shelter of parents, an employee takes shelter of the boss and a patient takes
shelter of a doctor.
Though these worldly shelters offer some solace and are even
essential at certain stages of life, they can offer no shelter at the end of
life – Krishna alone can. Unfortunately, as long as we have worldly shelters,
we often get lulled into sense of complacency that takes away our impetus for
seeking Krishna’s infallible shelter. That’s why, to help us voluntarily end
our self-defeating complacency, some spiritual paths encourage renouncing
worldly shelters.
But bhakti-yoga offers us experience of the supreme shelter.
Further, bhakti spiritualizes our relationships, thereby enabling us to extend
Krishna’s shelter to others; and also through the company of other devotees
relishing more of that shelter ourselves. When we thus realize that spiritual
life is not about living in loss, but about living to pursue the supreme gain, we
can practice bhakti wholeheartedly – not with misinformed hesitation, but with
educated determination.
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