i don’t know how common this expression is, but when i was a kid i heard it several times. Whenever my parents had us kids with them and they needed to go somewhere that they really didn’t want to be, they would say, “Just don’t get too comfortable, we won’t be staying long.”
When we find ourselves in a sketchy place or situation, we try to keep our group as close as possible so as to make a smooth and swift escape. Otherwise we can find ourselves trying to leave and having to round up a bunch of kids who are scattered around playing with dangerous objects, seeing and hearing things beyond their maturity level, and putting questionable items in their mouths. It’s just bad news all around.
It is quite reasonable that we wouldn’t want our loved ones to “make themselves comfortable” in certain situations. To this, some would say, “It is a diverse world, you cannot protect them from everything”, and my response would be, “i don’t see you vacationing in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, or walking across Camden, New Jersey.” There are clearly situations that are understandable to avoid and it is also understandable, and necessary even, that different individuals draw their lines in different places.
i have no problem with where people draw their lines… it is their own business and arguing over it is pointless and a waste of everyone’s time. What i do wish to do is persuade people to evaluate why they draw their lines where they do. It’s certainly not too much to ask, i mean it’s a pretty important thing… so it is good to know why we chose where we place our limits.
Some set limits based on tradition (passed down through generations of family or clan), some based on popularity (what is currently accepted by the general populous), others based on personal experience, some based on religious theology, and so on. Of course with all of these, time, place and circumstance has a tendency to bend and stretch these limits to accommodate “special situations”.
But i find that with this fluctuation of limits we often forget about the underlying principles that the original limits were based on, thus essentially rendering our current limits meaningless and arbitrary.
So from time to time i think it is healthy and necessary to evaluate our comfort zone and examine the reasons we marked it out where we did. In this way we may modify said parameters based on sound logic and reason. This not only promotes favorable situations and growth, but also keeps us accountable for our actions. Otherwise, if something unfavorable happens while we are in our comfort zone we will tend to direct the blame outward instead of owning it and responsibly re-evaluating our limits.
Three and a half months ago i was visiting Cintamani Dhama, which is not far from Bhagavat Commune’s previous property in Kentucky. There was an area that the devotees were trying to convert from pasture to garden and Bhakta Tyler was having some difficulty with the pull behind cultivator that he was using due to the ground being too hard. After i suggested adding weight to the equipment so that the tines would more easily penetrate and turn the compacted soil we located a couple of small boulders and carried them over. Upon placing one of these heavy rocks onto the cultivator rack, i crushed one of my fingers causing bleeding under one of my fingernails. Also, while i was there conversing with the devotees, Candra (one of their dogs) was playfully tugging at the bottom of my t-shirt creating a few punctures and tears. Today the dried bloodstain left under my fingernail from fourteen weeks ago is just finally reaching the tip of my nail and will be completely gone within a week, but my t-shirt (which I am coincidentally wearing) will have no such luck.
Perhaps it is this type of phenomenon that allows us to falsely think that we will live forever. When we get sick, we get better… when we get injured, we heal. It is only when we are faced with those who do not get better and do not heal that we truly realize the temporary nature of this world.
The term for this concept in Sanskrit is śmaśāna-vairāgya, which translates to renunciation at the cemetery. When we see undeniable evidence that our bodies, although miraculous in some ways, are extremely frail and guaranteed to perish, we tend to turn to spirituality. Unfortunately, for most people, spiritual practice is a last resort, which means that, for them, there is a lot of wasted time.
This material world is one of those places we “shouldn’t get too comfortable” in. There is not even an option to stay long in these bodies, even if we wanted to. In a world where everything is destined to end, an eternal being can find no peace… no satisfaction… no substance. So if our priorities are to make a comfortable situation here we are completely missing the point. There is no true comfort here. Our only shot at comfort is to transcend this temporary realm and reconnect with the eternal. And the only way to do that is though Bhakti or the cultivation of loving service to the Supreme Lord.
Which brings us back to the discussion at hand. It is important for us to periodically evaluate our comfort zone and adjust it to keep ourselves on the progressive path. i have observed that people tend to take a back seat when it comes to spirituality and blame their lack of advancement on “more senior” practitioners. They say, “Well, if he is having troubles, what hope do i have of attaining perfection?” In this way people consider spiritual practice to be impractical and thus they saunter on with their material agendas.
But the truth of the matter is that spirituality is the only thing that is practical in this world. Of all the countless number of people who have tried to make a comfortable situation in this material world, exactly zero percent have succeeded. And that figure will never change. Not only is material comfort impractical, it is impossible. Everything here comes to an end. Spirituality, on the other hand, is quite possible, and although spiritual perfection is rare (as confirmed in Bhagavad-gita), it is certainly possible. So any endeavor not aimed toward transcendence is ultimately futile.
We alone are culpable for our lack of spiritual growth. If we fail to try, how should we expect to succeed? It is our duty to honestly evaluate our own habits and tendencies and to gradually direct them from self-conscious to Krsna-conscious. If we are not giving it our all, we have no ground to stand on and call the process impractical. So take a look inward, start cleaning up, and for God’s sake, don’t get too comfortable here… it’s no place for a gentleman.
No comments:
Post a Comment