Self-seeking people care for their own pleasures, without caring for anyone else. Such people can’t be seekers of the self because what they seek is peripheral to their actual self. 

What does seeking the actual self mean? It means to see beyond the designations that cloud our perception of our identity and interests.

Gita wisdom explains that our actual self is spiritual. The more we pander to our senses, the more we get caught in craving and slaving for worldly pleasures, and the further our consciousness goes from spiritual awareness. The Bhagavad-gita stresses that the materially attached can’t be spiritually absorbed or even spiritually attracted (02.44) — they can’t be seekers of the self. 

How can we seek the self? Not merely by intellectual enquiry, but primarily by embarking on a spiritual journey. That journey begins by understanding that the self is meant to be a part of something bigger than the self. Constitutionally, we are all parts of the Complete Whole, the all-attractive supreme person, Krishna (15.07). Functionally, we are meant to love and serve him. When we connect lovingly with him, we gain clarity and purity. Clarity because a devotional connection with all-wise Krishna illuminates us internally with divine wisdom to see ourselves more clearly. Purity because a devotional connection with all-pure Krishna purges us of the impure desires that take us away from our self. When we thus see ourselves with clarity and purity, we wholeheartedly serve Krishna and compassionately serve all living beings in relationship with Krishna. Indeed, the Gita (05.25) declares that when spiritualists become purified and strive for everyone’s welfare, they progress toward spiritual perfection. 

Equipped with purity and clarity, when we thus go beyond self-seeking, we become initially seekers of the self and eventually seers of the self. 

 

Think it over:

  • Why can’t self-seeking people be seekers of the self?
  • How can we seek the self?
  • How can purity and clarity help us seek the self? 

 

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05.25  Those who are beyond the dualities that arise from doubts, whose minds are engaged within, who are always busy working for the welfare of all living beings and who are free from all sins achieve liberation in the Supreme.

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