05.29: Don’t romanticize or demonize the world; utilize it to realize Krishna

Many people romanticize the world, fancying it to be the arena where they will fulfill their fantasies. When the world dashes and smashes their dreams, they sometimes oscillate to the other extreme and demonize the world, picturing it as an intrinsically evil place meant to be shunned at all costs.

The Gita advocates a balanced middle approach between these two poles of romanticization and demonization. The Bhagavad-gita (5.29) declares that the world belongs to God, Krishna, and so should be utilized for his service. When we lovingly offer the resources of the world to the Lord of the world, this devotional contact with the all-pure Lord purifies us. This purification peels away the layers of ignorance and forgetfulness that have obscured our spiritual identity for eons. Once we realize our spiritual identity, then we discover that all the peace that we were constantly searching for externally was present all along in our own hearts in the form of Krishna, the source of all peace. Then do we fathom the true value of the world as a bridge to cross the deep valley that separated us from Krishna.