UNDERSTANDING & DISCOVERING THE SELF
Who are you?.. Are you your body? Or your mind? Or are you something higher? Do you know who you are or do you merely
think you know? And does it really matter? Our materialistic society, with its unenlightened leadership, has made it virtually taboo to inquire into our real, higher self. Instead we use our valuable time maintaining, decorating and pampering the body for its own sake. Might there be an alternative?
This very important Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is meant to save human society from spiritual death. At present
human society is being misled by leaders who are blind, for they do not know the aim and objective of human life, which is
self-realization and the reestablishment of our lost relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the missing
point. The Krsna consciousness movement is trying to enlighten human society in this important matter.
According to Vedic civilization, the perfection of life is to realize one’s relationship with Kṛṣṇa or God. In the Bhagavad-
gitä, which is accepted by all authorities in transcendental science as the basis of all Vedic knowledge, we understand
that not only human beings but all living entities are parts and parcels of God. The parts are meant for serving the whole, just
as the legs, hands, fingers and ears are meant for serving the total body. We living entities, being parts and parcels of God.
are dutybound to serve Him.
Actually our position is that we are always rendering service to someone, either to our family, country or society. If we have
no one to serve, sometimes we keep a pet cat or dog and render service to it. All these factors prove that we are constitutionally meant to render service, yet in spite of serving to the best of
our ability, we are not satisfied. Nor is the person to whom we are rendering that service satisfied. On the material platform
everyone is frustrated. The reason for this is that the service being rendered is not properly directed.
It is the duty of every human being to understand his constitutional position with God and to act accordingly. If this is possible, then our lives become successful. Sometimes, however, we feel challenging and say, “There is no God” or “I am God” or even, “I don’t care for God”. But in actuality this challenging spirit will not save us. God is there and we can see Him at every moment. If we refuse to see God in our life, then He will be present before us a cruel death. If we do not choose to see Him in one feature, we will see Him in another. There are different features of the Supreme Personality of Godhead because He is the original root of the entire cosmic manifestation. In one sense, it is not possibel for us to escape Him.
We must always remember that this particular form of human life is attained after an evolution of many millions of years in the cycle of transmigration of the spirit soul. In this particular form of life, the economic question is more easily solved than in the lower, animal form. There are swine, dogs, camels, asses and so on, whose economic necessities are just as important as ours, but the economic questions of these animals and others are solved under primitive conditions, whereas the human being is given all the facilities for leading a comfortable liffe by the laws of the nature.
Why is a man given a better chance to live than swine or other animals? Why is a highly posted government officer given better facilities for a comfortable life than an ordinary clerk? The answer is very simple: the important officer has to discharge duties of a more responsible nature than those of an ordinary clerk. Similarly, the human being has to discharge higher duties than the animals, who are always busy with filling their hungry stomachs. But by the laws of nature, the modern animalistic standard of civilization has only increased the problems of filling the stomach. When we approach some of these polished animals for spiritual life, they say that they only want to work for the satisfaction of their stomachs and that there is no necessity of inquiring about the Godhead. Yet despite their eagerness to work hard, there is always the question of unemployment and so many other impediments incurred by the laws of nature. Despite this, they still denounce the necessity of acknowledging the Godhead.
HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE, HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE