Fame is life’s driving purpose for many: “I would do anything to be the cynosure of all eyes, as are sportstars.”

Little do they realize that public attention hardly ever translates into personal satisfaction. Sportstars who are regularly greeted by cheers whenever they arrive in a sporting arena soon get used to it – the high coming from the cheer fades with time. To get a high, their fans need to do something extra, give some special applause. And to earn such applause, they need to deliver special performances.

But none of us, not even geniuses, are perfect. Even the most talented sportstars can’t perform superlatively all the time and so don’t get special applause.

And when the sportstars fail, as is inevitable in due course of time, the audience’s frustration bursts forth as boos and jeers. The sportstars already depressed by their poor performance end up feeling battered by the audience’s opprobrium.

The Bhagavad-gita underscores this discomforting reality about fame when it declares (02.34) that for those who have been honored, dishonor is worse than death.

Gita wisdom offers us a purpose higher than fame to live for. That purpose is love – spiritual love for Krishna that can stay with us forever. We are at our core souls who hunger and thirst for love. Not knowing how to fulfill this longing, we try to substitute it by the titillation that fame provides.

When we pursue a life of loving service to Krishna, we may even get fame as a byproduct. Or we may not get fame, depending on what Krishna sees as best for our all-round growth. But we will definitely get what attracted us to fame in the first place: the hope for attention, affection and satisfaction – all of which are completely fulfilled in a loving relationship with Krishna.

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