To remember some fact, say, the year of America’s independence, we need to connect that date with other dates we already remember. In general, placing a new fact in an existing framework of facts increases our chances of recollecting it, as against inserting that fact into our brain without any context.

If we wish to grow spiritually and relish higher happiness, Gita wisdom recommends that we strive to remember Krishna constantly. Remembering him is reasonably possible when we are engaged in direct devotional activities such as chanting his holy names, worshiping his deities or reading his glories. But we can’t do these activities constantly as we have many practical obligations. How, then, can we remember him constantly? By connecting worldly things with him.

In the Bhagavad-gita (10.17), Arjuna asks how he can meditate on Krishna while interacting with material objects. Essentially, his question is: how can he connect those objects with Krishna? In response, the remaining chapter describes how various attractive things can be seen as manifestations of Krishna (10.20-40), for their attractiveness reflects a spark of his all-attractiveness (10.41). When we too learn to connect with Krishna the objects we regularly interact with, our remembrance of him increases.

Undoubtedly, we need to directly remember Krishna by practicing focused bhakti-yoga regularly. However, our remembrance of him doesn’t have to be restricted only to these times of direct connection. Through such exclusive bhakti practice, we are meant to gain the conviction and realization that Krishna is the all-attractive source of whatever objects attract our attention. Thereafter, those objects can stimulate our remembrance of him, first by conscious intention and then by subconscious inclination.

By such an integrated, inclusive approach to remembering Krishna, we can ensure that our thoughts increasingly gravitate towards our all-pure Lord. And with the resulting purification, we will become perennially absorbed in him.

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