Let our deficiencies be not sinking pits for depression, but launching pads for devotion

We are often plagued by deficiencies of some kind or the other. And given our materialistic culture that glamorizes idealized specimens of various material attributes, feelings of insecurity and inferiority may haunt us: “I am not beautiful enough, smart enough, rich enough, fluent enough, cool enough, … nothing enough.” If we obsess over our shortcomings, we may sink into the pit of depression, even feeling that our life itself is unlivable.
 
Gita wisdom offers a devotional counter for such negative feelings.
 
It reveals an all-attractive, all-merciful God, Krishna, who loves all of us as his eternal children, irrespective of our material deficiencies or proficiencies. His inclusive love is evident in the Gita declaration (09.32) that even those conventionally considered unqualified, the lowborn, can gain his shelter and thereby attain supreme destination: eternal ecstatic existence with him.
 
Our disadvantages can become advantages if they help us realize our need for Krishna as our supreme object of love. Only when we redirect our heart from material things to him can we attain life and love eternal.
 
However, most people, especially gifted people, hardly feel the need for Krishna – they assume that by their strengths alone, they will conquer and prosper in the here-and-now. Even if they are materially proficient and even if they become materially successful, still being devoid of devotion for Krishna, they will stay stuck in unfulfilling and fleeting material existence. In fact, their strengths may well increase their material infatuation and concomitant incarceration.
 
In contrast, our deficiencies by providing us impetus to turn to Krishna can become launching pads for our devotion. The resulting devotional enrichment will, our deficiencies notwithstanding, provide us fulfillment even in this world. And focused devotion will eventually propel us to Krishna’s eternal world, free from all deficiencies and depressions.

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 09 Text 32

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