Understanding the supreme reality is no small feat. Most people do not even spare it a thought. To understand it in theory is one thing, and to realise it is something quite different. A life dedicated to realising the ultimate truth is a life well spent. When I lived with Buddhist monks in India when I was 18 I learned that they were endeavouring for enlightenment. I thought “That is a worthwhile goal of life.” Many of us are in a doped, subdued state of life where we don’t think. We don’t realise that everything we are endeavouring for with be lost today or tomorrow. We don’t realise that the people that we serve don’t really care about us. In other words, we are lost. Often it is only when things get really bad that we question “What am I doing? Is there something higher? What is life about?” And if we are fortunate we may come into contact with someone who can provide some spiritual direction. At that time the soul begins to awaken and realise he was living a nightmare up until this point. If he is educated properly by Vaisnavas he will learn that everything is the energy of God, and that God is present everywhere. When he sees like that, he is moving into the light from the darkness. However many inauspicious tendencies will remain in his heart - the desire to enjoy separately from God, the desire to be in the centre, the illusion that we are in control. As long as these tendencies are there he will not be able to completely realise the truth. Our heart must become clean. We msut see God or His energies at every moment. Our desires must be pure. Then God can be realised. And when we realise God then the soul experiences the happiness he has been searching for lifetime after lifetime. That happiness makes anything bodily seem irrelevant, like an elephant trampling on flowers. In that state of mind he begins to pick up pace and run towards God with outstretched arms. Love is developing. No the love of this world which is a mutual deal - “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours”. Not an exchange of facilities or some sort of compromise. This is pure love, like the love of a parent. The father loves his son, he wishes him the best and does expect anything in return. God loves us like that, because we are eternally his. He has just been waiting for us to turn back to him.
