Suppose we inherit a huge fortune: we may start splurging recklessly. But suppose we learn that the money we have is on loan: we will invest more prudently so as to have sufficient returns before the loan’s return date.
Usually, we think that everything we possess — not just our assets but also our abilities — is our own, to use as we please. But when life’s vicissitudes take away our assets, we are forced to confront an unpalatable question: are these assets really our own? Similarly, when our abilities suddenly desert us — as happens to even celebrated sports players when they inexplicably go out of form — we again get a similar question: If these abilities were really mine, why can’t I always summon them at my command?
Answering such questions, the Bhagavad-gita (05.29) indicates that everything belongs to the supreme divinity, Krishna. Further, Gita wisdom states that he has given us our assets and abilities so that we can use them in a mood of service to him, thereby promoting our ultimate welfare as well as others’ ultimate welfare, at least in our corner of the world. If we use what we have while we have it, we can please Krishna with our devotional dutifulness. And he will reciprocate by revealing his all-attractiveness, thereby enriching us with devotion for him. Such devotion is our greatest asset — it is the only asset that lasts forever; it provides us deep fulfillment even in this life, and it propels us toward an eternal life of love with him beyond this life.
Thus, Gita wisdom guides us to use what we have on loan to gain a devotionally enriched consciousness that will be eternally our own.
One-sentence summary:
The things we think we own are just on loan — use it to attain an enriched consciousness that will forever be our own.
Think it over:
- Has any experience reminded you that your assets are not actually your own?
- Has any experience reminded you that your abilities are not actually your own?
- How can we use what is presently on loan to attain something eternal?
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05.29: A person in full consciousness of Me, knowing Me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries.
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Devotion dissipates desires.