Suppose a child gets infatuated with a toy and demands it from his mother. If she refuses, he cries, “You don’t love me.” The mother has done so much for the child, but he reduces her love to the toy.

We too are sometimes childishly reductionistic in our relationship with our supreme parent, Krishna. When we don’t get something that we pray for, we start doubting his love. It is only because of his love that we exist at all; that we have the many necessities of life that millions struggle to get; that we have an opportunity to connect with him in today’s world where millions live and die godlessly. But we can’t see any of these gifts when the filter of our attachments conditions our vision.

Of course, the things we want may be far more serious than toys. Still, if seen from a long-term perspective, we can understand that things which seem indispensable now may be seen as unimportant later. Seeing things in perspective becomes easier when we have a spiritual self-understanding, when we understand that we are at our core souls, eternal parts of the supreme whole, Krishna.

The Bhagavad-gita (07.16) appreciates as pious those who approach Krishna for getting material things. Still, it indicates (07.19) that they need many lifetimes of spiritual evolution before they realize that he is everything; that everything which promises shelter or pleasure has its source in him; and that he is his greatest blessing.

By cultivating philosophical understanding and practicing bhakti-yoga, we can realize the shelter and pleasure available in Krishna, thereby getting the impetus to cast aside the blinding filter of our attachments. By thus accelerating our spiritual evolution, we can relish, undistracted and undistorted, his eternal love for us.

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