The demands and desires of our material life frequently press on us so insistently that our devotional life gets pushed to the background of our consciousness. We subconsciously treat our Krishna-connection like a spare wheel for the drive of life: “It’s important; I need to give it time – but not right now. If things don’t work out in my material life, then my Krishna consciousness is my backup plan.”
We will benefit by connecting with Krishna at any level. Still, to realize our life’s full potential, we need to give our Krishna-connection its due priority. We need to elevate it from the position of a spare wheel to that of a steering wheel. This essentially means that we make our Krishna-connection the central pivot of our life, the foremost focus around which we harmonize all our life’s decisions. The Bhagavad-gita points to this when it (08.07) urges us to first fix our minds on Krishna and then shoulder our necessary worldly responsibilities.
We may doubt: “Won’t this distract me from my worldly obligations and aspirations?” No, it will enable us to do them better.
Gita wisdom allays our doubts by pointing out that the Krishna-connection is life’s best steering wheel. When we don’t have this steering wheel, we inevitably use our default steering wheel: our own mind. And the mind being short-sighted and misguided is an extremely dangerous steering wheel. With it as our decision-maker, we end up at best underutilizing our talents and at worst ruining our entire life.
On the other hand, if we make our Krishna-connection our steering wheel, we will be able to curb our depraved mind, use our talents tangibly and contribute effectively in this world – and also travel smoothly and swiftly towards life’s ultimate destination.
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 08 Text 07
“Therefore, Arjuna, you should always think of Me in the form of Krishna and at the same time carry out your prescribed duty of fighting. With your activities dedicated to Me and your mind and intelligence fixed on Me, you will attain Me without doubt.”
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