See beyond the provision to the provider

A newborn infant sees everything as potential food. It suckles the mother’s breasts and sees it as a source of nourishment. Only after some growth does it realize that that milk comes from a person, who is a source of love too. Even on growing up a bit, the child may see the love of parents only in terms of the toys they provide. On growing up, the child sees their love as a distinct reality independent of what they give or don’t give.

A similar shift of vision from the provision to the provider characterizes the maturation of our relationship with our supreme parent God.The Bhagavad-gita (07.16) mentions the desirous as one of the four categories of people who approach Krishna. Significantly, the Gita thereafter outlines their spiritual evolution without specifying whether their desires are fulfilled or not. This silence doesn’t mean that their need isn’t fulfilled when they approach Krishna – it just means that the Gita’s stress is not on material gratification but on spiritual evolution.

Pertinently, Gita commentators mention prince Dhruva as a prime example of the desirous. His desire for a kingdom was indeed fulfilled, but that didn’t fulfill him – he felt fulfilled only by the awakening in his heart of pure devotion for Krishna.

Similarly, the Gita (07.19) points to the gradual multi-life progression to pure devotion of materially-minded worshipers: they realize that Krishna is everything. While this realization may seem far away from us, even now we can realize by diligently practicing bhakti-yoga that Krishna by providing us the opportunity to remember him provides us shelter, strength and satisfaction, irrespective of whether our desires are fulfilled or not. By shifting our focus from the provision to the provider, we can relish the one provision that will never run out of stock – the opportunity to remember Krishna.