CHAPTER 5, TEXT 24: One whose happiness is within, who is active and rejoices within, and whose aim is inward is actually the perfect mystic. He is liberated in the Supreme, and ultimately he attains the Supreme.
About a year ago, I watched a documentary about a scientist who shares what it's like to live in Antarctica for one full year.
The sun does not even rise for six months, and it is nighttime for three months straight.
Three months of darkness.
Instead of being appalled, I was captivated. Fascinated.
I was possessed with a deep desire to not only visit Antarctica, but to "winter over." I wanted to experience three months of total darkness. Never mind that during that time one rarely ever leaves the meager Motel 6-like accommodations, people get disoriented, people are at higher risks of depression and there are little to no fresh food choices.
I wanted to... turn inward.
Be with myself.
Just me.
Maybe because at the time I watched this documentary my energy was so splayed OUT (especially at work) that I was desperate to gather myself IN.
Of course, what I really wanted in my irrational desire to spend a year in Antarctica was to relish a self-satisfaction and happiness within. To be in touch with my own soul's capacity to be satisfied and even happy without any external stimulation. I wanted to experience, for once, what it would be like to let go of any and all activities and just be with me.
Prabhupad poses a question in response to this verse: "Unless one is able to relish happiness from within, how can one retire from the external engagements meant for deriving superficial happiness?" This is an interesting wake-up call, because I could've flown all the way to Antarctica but if I had never truly allowed myself to relish happiness from within, I may have gone crazy without "external engagements." Without a more purposeful connection to Krishna, I would just be substituting out intense activities I was doing here in New York City for intense activities at McMurdo Station.
So it's not about where I am. Happiness is about being in touch with the soul. A quality of the soul is atmarama - or self-satisfaction. That self-satisfied nature gets so covered over, though, with all of these empty pursuits for happiness.
If we would slow down enough, though, we would see that we are all capable of being happy and satisfied at every moment, because that is the nature of the soul. Prabhupad writes, "A liberated person enjoys happiness by factual experience. He can, therefore, sit silently at any place and enjoy the activities of life from within. Such a liberated person no longer desires external material happiness." Spiritual happiness is accessible at any moment in any place. Maybe that is what I've been craving for the past year, the sense that happiness is not dependent on an external circumstance, but my own connection to God.
Now that the Coronavirus quarantine is in full effect, I don't have to go all the way to Antarctica to gather myself in. The whole WORLD has shifted into "wintering-over-in-Antarctica" mode. All external engagements are cancelled. No more potentially empty, shallow pursuits for happiness.
Just be here now.
Be satisfied.
We'll see, it's all a grand experiment.
And I must confess, I'm glad that I can eat fresh oranges, take walks, and see the sun rise every morning.
Full purport for Chapter 5, Text 24 by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad here:
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/5/24/
McMurdo Station, Antarctica
About a year ago, I watched a documentary about a scientist who shares what it's like to live in Antarctica for one full year.
The sun does not even rise for six months, and it is nighttime for three months straight.
Three months of darkness.
Instead of being appalled, I was captivated. Fascinated.
I was possessed with a deep desire to not only visit Antarctica, but to "winter over." I wanted to experience three months of total darkness. Never mind that during that time one rarely ever leaves the meager Motel 6-like accommodations, people get disoriented, people are at higher risks of depression and there are little to no fresh food choices.
I wanted to... turn inward.
Be with myself.
Just me.
Maybe because at the time I watched this documentary my energy was so splayed OUT (especially at work) that I was desperate to gather myself IN.
Of course, what I really wanted in my irrational desire to spend a year in Antarctica was to relish a self-satisfaction and happiness within. To be in touch with my own soul's capacity to be satisfied and even happy without any external stimulation. I wanted to experience, for once, what it would be like to let go of any and all activities and just be with me.
Prabhupad poses a question in response to this verse: "Unless one is able to relish happiness from within, how can one retire from the external engagements meant for deriving superficial happiness?" This is an interesting wake-up call, because I could've flown all the way to Antarctica but if I had never truly allowed myself to relish happiness from within, I may have gone crazy without "external engagements." Without a more purposeful connection to Krishna, I would just be substituting out intense activities I was doing here in New York City for intense activities at McMurdo Station.
So it's not about where I am. Happiness is about being in touch with the soul. A quality of the soul is atmarama - or self-satisfaction. That self-satisfied nature gets so covered over, though, with all of these empty pursuits for happiness.
If we would slow down enough, though, we would see that we are all capable of being happy and satisfied at every moment, because that is the nature of the soul. Prabhupad writes, "A liberated person enjoys happiness by factual experience. He can, therefore, sit silently at any place and enjoy the activities of life from within. Such a liberated person no longer desires external material happiness." Spiritual happiness is accessible at any moment in any place. Maybe that is what I've been craving for the past year, the sense that happiness is not dependent on an external circumstance, but my own connection to God.
Now that the Coronavirus quarantine is in full effect, I don't have to go all the way to Antarctica to gather myself in. The whole WORLD has shifted into "wintering-over-in-Antarctica" mode. All external engagements are cancelled. No more potentially empty, shallow pursuits for happiness.
Just be here now.
Be satisfied.
We'll see, it's all a grand experiment.
And I must confess, I'm glad that I can eat fresh oranges, take walks, and see the sun rise every morning.
Full purport for Chapter 5, Text 24 by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad here:
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/5/24/
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