15.07 – Let us long to belong

Few things define us as much as our longings. They occupy our thoughts, shape our words and determine our actions. Sadly however, most of our longings remain unfulfilled.

Why? Because that is the typical fate of most material longings. As our culture is largely materialistic, most of our longings tend to be material. However, as the material resources of the world are finite, whereas our longings are infinite, most material longings are bound to be frustrated. As the Bhagavad-gita (15.07) aptly states, material existence is characterized by our vain struggle to fulfill the longings of our mind and senses.

The same verse also hints how we can become truly happy when it states our original position as eternal fragmental parts of Krishna. As souls, we are meant to delight eternally in a loving relationship with him. All our material longings are misdirected expressions of our original longing for him. By the process of devotional service, we can redirect our longing back to him and thereby revive our love for him.

However, our love for Krishna stays superficial if it centers only on longing for him. Love comprises not just longing but also belonging: the feeling that we are committed through service and sacrifice to the person we love. We can cultivate a sense of belonging to Krishna by rendering unflinching service to him. By so doing, our love deepens till we get a life-transforming realization. We realize that, finally after lifetimes of searching, we have found the person we have been searching: a person who loves us, values us, accepts us, elevates us, liberates us. We get the sweet conviction, “This is where I belong – eternally.”

Thus, by longing to belong to Krishna, we cultivate the selfless love that takes us to life’s supreme destination: Krishna’s ecstatic eternal abode.