Sunday, October 3, 2010

Simply contemplate, contemplate.

For the last few weeks I've been opening up to questions about the civil war in my country and using some memories as tools to help the listener understand how philosophy isn't about hypothetical situations. I sometimes have to take myself back to age eleven and see things from that point of view as well. Today I sat with my mind as it drilled this question into me: " are you telling this story for recognition? Sympathy? What is the actual reason?
As the mental interrogation continued, clarity found its way to the forefront- because it has become real to me. As an eleven year old, the civil war in Liberia was no more than a Rambo war movie happening in my yard and around the country. As a thirty one year old, when I speak of the war, it flows with Krsna's teachings in the Gita about Divine and Demoniac natures. 

Of course as a kid there were some real moments of seeing death and dying and the other things that come with war, and those things made me think of why the war would happen. Didn't the leaders go to church also? Why were they fighting then? As the pages of the 16th chapter of the Gita read on, a clear understanding of people came to mind. Something else that struck was that if I don't contemplate this philosophy each day, that     demonic mentality of exploiting for my senses would also poke its ugly head through my not so strong spiritual fort- and destroy it. After all in this age, the mentality of demon and demigod live in the same body, and the one we feed most becomes the leader.


Srila Prabhupada's books gives us a glimpse of spiritual nature (as well as the full picture), if we contemplate what we read. His simple explanation of the green bird in the green tree to explain individuality over impersonalism, or a young bird maturing and using its wings to fly out of the nest of material comforts, are a few examples that show us day to day exercises that can free us from the illusory energy.

Best example of all is the cleansing of the mirror of the mind, and the constant sincere chanting of Krsna's names as "windex" leaning product. Again, if we simply contemplate, we can understand our position in the material cloudy atmosphere. No sane person, after reading such words like "dukhalayam asasvatam" and contemplating it just a little bit, would want to make a permanent position of this world.  And this mantra is our way  out!
So the mercy has been given and the verses have been read, and now let us all dive a little deeper and try to develop a bit of a higher taste, and give up gradually the lap of illusion we've slept in so long....

Good day :)