08.09 – Remembrance of Krishna’s immanence brings resilience on our march to transcendence
We naturally think of those close to us.
People can be close physically or emotionally. Because our senses perceive the physical reality around us, our thoughts easily go to those in our physical proximity. And we think of those emotionally close to us spontaneously, even if they aren’t close physically.
Rarely do we realize that Krishna is the closest to us both physically and emotionally.
Physically, Krishna is closer to us than anyone can ever be, even a person who holds us in the fondest, tightest embrace. Krishna resides permanently in our heart right next to us.
Emotionally too, Krishna is closer to us than anyone else. Unfortunately, we are not close to him because we don’t realize how much he loves us. Gita wisdom provides us that understanding.
Others who love us can care for us for at the most for one lifetime. But Krishna cares for us eternally through his immanent and transcendent features. In philosophical parlance, things existing within matter are called immanent and things existing beyond matter are called transcendent. The Bhagavad-gita (08.09) urges us to meditate on the immanent (anor aniyamsam) and transcendent (tamasah parastat) attributes of Krishna. Meditating thus opens our eyes to his love. He loves us so much that the transcendent Bhagavan becomes the immanent Paramatma to help us find our way to transcendence.
As the Paramatma, he accompanies us wherever we go, for as long as our journey through material existence continues. And when that journey ends, we enter into the care of Bhagavan, who resides eternally in the spiritual world.
Remembering Krishna’s immanence reassures us that he loves us even now, when our love for him is neither strong nor pure. Meditating on his unflinching, unfailing love gives us resilience on our march to transcendence.
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08.09 – One should meditate upon the Supreme Person as the one who knows everything, as He who is the oldest, who is the controller, who is smaller than the smallest, who is the maintainer of everything, who is beyond all material conception, who is inconceivable, and who is always a person. He is luminous like the sun, and He is transcendental, beyond this material nature.