Lessons from the Himalayas—Part 3

I saw a hawk lunge into the Ganga and emerge with a one foot long fish in his talons. The poor little fish had known nothing in life except living in a river. We are all like this little fish. In the Mahabharata, a yaksha asks Maharaja Yudhistir what is the most wonderful thing in the world. The king replies, “Daily we see thousands die yet we never realize about our own death. We think I won’t die. ”Like that little fish, the hawk of fate can rip us right out of the current of our routine, normal lifestyle, through disease, tragedies, crisis, old age and even death. This isn’t a pessimistic, rather a realistic view about life. We need to understand the purpose of life. We do not know when the hawk of fate is going to strike us, but we can be certain that it’s for sure watching us, scanning the routine of the river of our life. The material nature is powerful; things, events and people are beyond our control in life. But the Bhagavad Gita (2.59) assures us that if we experience a higher taste, we can be above the inevitable changes that come into our life. In the name of various duties we have, we ignore our vital spiritual responsibility.The Vedanta Sutra aphorism states,“athato brahma jignasa”, “now enquire into the absolute truth”. Real human life begins when we sincerely aspire to learn who am I, where do I come from and what is the goal of my life? This enquiry is the special prerogative of human life. Emperor Parikshit, ruled the planet 5000 years ago on learning he would die in seven days left his kingdom and went to the bank of Ganges dedicating his time to enquire, hear, realize God & know the essence of duties, especially at the moment of death. Parikshit knew he had seven days to live, but no one on this planet knows for sure if he has even one day to live. We may not be able to perceive spiritual benefits immediately but we need to know this is the foundation. Stress related nervous breakdowns happen when our foundation is not strong. Not only do we succumb to such pressure, we also hurt all those around us, especially those whom we dearly love. Therefore, a dire need for all of us is to make the foundation of our lives strong by connecting to God through chanting of the Holy Names of Krishna, rendering selfless service to all.

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