Pt. Dr. Umesh Persad, Spiritual Leader, SWAHA Gyaan Deepak Kirtan Mandali
We are all searching for God. We have a mental idea of God based on scriptures and teachings but the goal is to experience the Divine. Sometimes we pray to God merely for solutions to problems, but there will always be challenges in life based on prarabdha karma. It is that past karma which influences our present human life and which cannot be avoided. The best way to change our situation is by changing our reaction to the situation. If the doctor gives us a prescription for medication, we cannot feel well if we merely read the prescription. Similarly, we must follow and practice the spiritual teachings in order to progress on the spiritual path.
As we celebrate Shree Krishna Janam Ashtami, let us begin with an interpretation of the Divine name. Krishna means ‘dark’. Deep inside us is dark because we cannot see it. Anything that can be perceived in the mind or the world is not you. Your body is not you; your mind and thoughts are not you. The mind is a bundle of thoughts. If we observe these thoughts, we will realise that they are not us. Of all the thoughts that we have in our mind, the basic thread is the thought, ‘I’. The goal of our spiritual practices is to lead us beyond our thoughts and discover the ‘I’ inside, the witness of everything, the world and the mind.
In other words, Krishna means that which sees, but cannot be seen. Krish means ‘existence or being’ and na means ‘nivritti’ or ‘beyond thought’. The gaps between our thoughts are Krishna. He is the essence of our being, pure awareness, Divinity. How can we find what we are? It is a realisation, a discovery that this is what we have been all the time. The mind, the thoughts and even beliefs can be obstacles to this realisation. Mana eva manushyam karanam bandha-mokshayoh (Amrita Bindu Upanishad): “Mind is the cause of bondage; mind is the cause of liberation.” Our spiritual practices will lead us to this realisation, through a process of negation, that I am not the body; I am not the mind; I am not all of these things; I am just the witness of everything as pure awareness.
Krishna, the Self, is everywhere. We are like fishes in water: the water is around us and inside us. It is us, just as pure awareness is around us and in us. If I didn’t have a name or form, what would I be? The awareness that looks but can’t see itself. The Bhagavad Gita says, “Everything moves within the One Self.” There is also the analogy of the dancer and the dance. There can be no separation of the two. There is one awareness everywhere that is dancing through all creation. That awareness is Brahm, or the Supreme God. In that sense, we are all avataars, expressions of the Divine energy. To use another analogy, when we go the cinema, we watch the movie on the screen. No one watches the screen itself. The screen is the Self, the unchanging awareness behind all creation. When we read the newspaper, we look at the printed words on the paper; no one looks at the blank page. That is Awareness. The big mystery of life is that you are that awareness. Our duty as devotees is to reach that realisation. The birth of Shree Krishna is an internal birth. It is a realisation of who we truly are, the essence of our Being, Krishna.
Extracted from a service at Gyaan Deepak Kirtan Mandali
