The hugeness of the world around us and the tininess of our place in it often fuel within us a drive to be somebody.
Unfortunately, this drive can distort us into somebody that we are not. We unwittingly bury our inner self under the pressure of outer glamorized models of the kind of person that is cool and the kind that isn’t. Compromising our core values, we become disconnected from all that we actually cherish and can truly relish in life. Without realizing it, we end up becoming shadows of ourselves, silhouette personas that find no substantial meaning or lasting fulfilment. The feverish desire to be somebody ends up making us somebody that we can no longer recognize.
External pressures make us shadows of ourselves, silhouette personas that find no substantial meaning or lasting fulfillment.
The solution is to go within before going without: recognizing who we are before trying to show the world who we are. Gita wisdom helps us in understanding that we are at our core souls who are eternally parts of Krishna – parts who are eternally loved by him. The Bhagavad-gita (02.45) refers to such an inner directed person as atma-van, the possessor of the soul. Since we are the soul, what does it mean to be the possessor of the soul? It means to live in awareness of our spiritual identity and glory, to not let that fulfilling awareness be stolen by promises of external pleasure or threat of external trouble.
To become such spiritual possessors, we need to distance ourselves from external influences that glamorize worldly pleasure – even if they be the sections of the Vedic literature that glamorize pious materialism. By living according to our nature with an intention of selfless service towards Krishna, we can realize our all-round potential, gradually becoming a somebody who holds on to the same essential core eternally and therein finds everlasting happiness.
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