03.30 – Fight for all that you have with all that you have

If someone came to pick our pocket, we would usually not let it go without a fight. The greater the wealth to be lost, the more we will fight, wouldn’t we?

But strangely enough, when our greatest wealth is being stolen, we often capitulate without even a fight. Let’s understand how.

Our only possession is our consciousness. It is the only thing that always stays with us. And it is the basis for any and every happiness; if we aren’t conscious, we can’t be happy.

When we connect our consciousness with Krishna, we get the supreme happiness because he is the source of all happiness. And only this happiness can be eternal, because our connection with him alone can be eternal; our connection with all other sources of happiness is temporary.

Yet when the thief of worldly desire steals our Krishna-connection, we often don’t put up much of a fight. Worldly desires allure our consciousness towards sense objects and thereby strip us off our Krishna-connection. But because these desires promise pleasure, we often give up our Krishna-connection – not reluctantly, but readily. However, the promise turns out to be false; the pleasure just doesn’t live up to the hype. And we struggle to regain our lost Krishna-connection – only to let the next temptation steal it. Again and again.

Pertinently, the Bhagavad-gita (03.30) urges us to shed lethargy and fight enthusiastically so that we can offer ours work and our heart to Krishna.  This is a fight where all that we have, all that is actually ours, is at stake. So, it deserves to be fought with all that we have. And the more we fight it, the more shelter of Krishna we take, thereby increasing our enrichment – till eventually the supreme wealth of devotion becomes ours forever.

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Therefore, O Arjuna, surrendering all your works unto Me, with full knowledge of Me, without desires for profit, with no claims to proprietorship, and free from lethargy, fight.