Our consciousness is always in a state of flux. It is either being limited or expanded. According to the influence of the material modes of nature, goodness, passion and ignorance our consciousness reflects different thoughts, opinions, feelings, perceptions, etc. much as a light displays different colors when refracted through a prism. It is the contention of the Vedas that in purified consciousness we can see things as they are just as a clean mirror can reflect a true image of what we are seeing. There are undoubedtly many ways that we can choose to polish the mirror of perception. However, some ways are more efficacious than others.
Bhakti yoga is compared to taking an elevator to God consciousness because it directly engages each of our senses in God conscious activities. When we walk to a temple of Vishnu or when we dance in sankirtan (congregational chanting of God's names) we are engaging the legs. When we smell the tulasi leaves and flowers offered to the Diety of the Lord in the temple (the arca-vigraha) we engage the nose. When we taste the food offered to the Lord we engage the tongue. By seeing the Vaishnava's, the devotees of the Lord and by seeing the nicely decorated form of the Lord in the temple we engage the eyes. By hearing the sound of the Lord's holy names we engage the ears. And so on. By this direct engagement in God conscious activities the senses are purified simultaneously according to the degree with which we are able to engage them. And God is there, Krishna is there to help us.
As our consciousness evolves to a more rarified stratum we will begin to experience the ecstasy of a higher engagement of the senses. In sanskrit this word is ananda. We will begin to perceive that God is actually acting through our senses. One of the names of God is Hrsikesha, which means "master of the senses." And the ecstasy of acting in concert with the will of the Lord is like no other pleasure we have ever experienced in this world. And it is dynamic - ever evolving. It is here that we find the true meaning of the word immortality for it is only in eternity that the full range of this rasa or taste will be experienced. This ecstasy, this ananda is actually the food for our consciousness. Without the prospect of this eternal ecstasy we are no better than walking corpses wandering in this world of birth and death without purpose, without fulfillment, without satisfaction and with only the prospect of non-existence which threatens to devour us at every moment.
So take the names of the Lord within your heart. Make them a part of your life. They are fully competant to deliver us from our conditional existence in this ephemeral shadow-land - this reflection of reality and return us to our real home and happiness. By the mercy of the holy names and by the mercy of the Supreme Lord Sri Caitanyacandra we can come to share in the happiness of the divine love of Sri Sri Radha and Krishna, the youthful couple who sport like playful swans in the waves of nectar in the land of Vraja.
Thanks, Srestha dasa, for your kind contribution to the success of this page, Hare Krsna, ys, mahaksadasa
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