Our mind frequently craves for the things we don’t have. And such craving is aggravated by today’s media which dangles before us images of thousands of tempting things, most of which we don’t have and many of which we can’t have, given that our resources are finite. Consequently, dwelling on those things makes us dissatisfied, irritated, alarmed.

If we want to avoid such dissatisfaction, we need to redirect our vision. Rather than obeying the mind and looking at the things we don’t have, we can use our God-given intelligence to focus on the things we do have. All of us have many blessings, many things that are right in our life. When we consciously contemplate these blessings, we feel emotionally enriched.

Taking such intelligently-guided redirection further, the Bhagavad-gita (06.25) recommends that we use our intelligence to fix the mind on spiritual reality. What is spiritual reality? We ourselves are parts of spiritual reality, for we are souls, indestructible spiritual beings. When we contemplate our inviolable eternality, we experience security even amidst material scarcity.

Equipping us to redirect our thoughts to deeper, sweeter spiritual reality, the Gita reveals the centerpiece of spiritual reality: the supreme spiritual being, Krishna. He is our all-loving, all-powerful, all-attractive Lord, and we are his eternal parts. No matter whatever happens, he is always with us, in our own hearts. He is our greatest well-wisher (05.29), and he always orchestrates things for our ultimate well-being.

What if we can’t perceive spiritual reality? The time-honored process of bhakti-yoga gradually tunes our consciousness to perceive both our own indestructibility and our Lord’s infallibility.

When we thus realize that we always have Krishna with us, then, irrespective of what we have or don’t have materially, we relish serenity.

Think it over:

  1. Why do we often feel dissatisfied?
  2. Can you list three of your most precious blessings?
  3. How does focusing on spiritual reality provide serenity?

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