What is wrong with seeking the desirable and avoiding the undesirable?
Podcast
Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Attaining the desirable and avoiding the undesirable. Now, there’s nothing wrong in that.
Why should we be more uncomfortable than we need to be? And why can we not seek comfort? That is fine. But if that alone becomes the purpose of our life, say for example, if we are caught in a traffic jam, and then we might try to find, okay, you know, maybe if I go this way, I can go ahead. If I can go this way, I can go ahead.
So, to find a way ahead during the traffic jam is fine. But if I say, you know, this road is very crowded, this road is clear, so that road is not taking me to my destination, but still I go there just because that road is clear, then what is the point? I won’t get to my destination. So, like that, you know, what is desirable, what is undesirable, wanting to attain the desirable and avoid the undesirable, if that just takes away from the course of our life, then that is definitely undesirable.
That’s why in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says, when he talks about the symptoms of knowledge, 20 items of knowledge, there he says, how does a devotee act? Fixed devotion to Krishna. And fixed devotion to Krishna means that means when I get the desirable or I get the undesirable, still samacitta, one stays focused on Krishna. This is the direction I’m going to go in my life.
If I get the desirable, good. If I get the undesirable, still my direction is not going to change. So, this way when Pralabama is saying, while pursuing Krishna, if our desires are fulfilled, wonderful.
You know, if we want something in material life, our focus is on Krishna. While pursuing Krishna, if we get those things, that’s okay, that’s good. But if we don’t get those things, we don’t change the direction of our journey and go somewhere else.
We keep moving towards Krishna. My dear Lord, please instruct me about how I can serve you. How can I come closer to you, Lord? With this attitude when we have, frustration of our desires won’t frustrate us.