06.08 – Happiness comes not by the stocking of information but the flowing of service

As we live in an information-centered age, we are habituated to seeking stimulation in new information. When we get introduced to Gita wisdom, our habit prompts us to seek stimulation in new spiritual information about Krishna. If we become obsessed with such information searching, we may end knowing much about Krishna but not experiencing much devotional happiness.

Why?

Because Gita wisdom explains that we are all conscious spiritual beings whose deepest need is love, to love and to be loved. That’s why, to relish real and eternal happiness, we need to love the all-attractive, all-loving Lord of our heart, Krishna. Certainly, for loving Krishna we need information about him, and Gita wisdom does provide us a lot of relevant information.

But still the fact remains that, on the spiritual path, information is not the end, devotion is the end. Information is useful as long as it serves as a tool to the end of devotion. If information alone becomes our end, our spiritual quest will go off target, and we will remain tormented by worldly desires. At best we will stay stuck at the intellectual platform where we may delight in showing off our spiritual knowledge to others. At worst our thirst for pleasure will drag us down from the intellectual level to the sensual level or even the sinful level.

To rise from the intellectual level to the spiritual level, we need to engage in practical service to Krishna, because service expresses our devotion if we have it and our desire for devotion if we don’t have it. When we thus go beyond stocking information to immersing ourselves in the flow of service, our information will, by Krishna’s mercy, blossom into realization and thereby, as the Gita (6.8) states, make us satisfied.