Looking for Krishna

I've had this idea for a blog entry for the past couple of months now (and it's this event that was one of the reasons I actually wanted to start a devotional blog). One time when I logged out of MySpace I saw the below screen:


I thought it was a humorous reminder of Krishna's presence: "Looking for Krishna?" Krishna is everywhere and in all circumstances and experiences. Curious to see what I would find by searching for Krishna through that link, one of the things I found was this:


Hare Krishna reading glasses? I like the line, "As you chant everything becomes perfect and clear"! Hah! Such irony all in one moment from logging out of MySpace.

This event made me start to reflect on how Krishna is always present with us, it's just that we're not always with Krishna. In other words, just because we're not conscious of Krishna's presence doesn't mean that He stops existing. His existence and omnipresence is independent of our realization of it.

It's so easy to forget about Krishna. There's so many ways to do it and it comes so naturally to us as conditioned souls. Television, sex, intoxication, pornography, shopping, work, school, video games, music, books, movies, gossip, physical health, bodily comfort, sports, hobbies, etc. The list could go on and on and become more and more specific and detailed according to our particular personalities and dispositions. The point is we've all found ways to become fully absorbed in the illusion that we are these material bodies and material personalities.

Through the gradual process of conditioning from the point of our birth we've assimilated our selves into the material, physical world. A baby has to learn how to be in this physical body again; how it moves, how to control it, what is pleasurable, what is painful, etc. By the time we're small children it's all over - we believe ourselves to be this physical body and mind. And not only are we fighting the conditioning from this life, but the conditioning from the many millions of births we've already taken.

Just like Pavlov's dog we are conditioned to respond to the sensory stimulus around us. We are driven by our senses and our mind, unaware and unconscious of our eternal, spiritual nature and unaware of Krishna's presence. How unfortunate we've become! Yet because of our conditioning we stay comfortable in our ignorance, comfortable in our suffering, because it's all we know and we accept it as real because our material senses tell us it is.

As aspiring Vaishnava's we must cultivate the practice of looking for Krishna everywhere and in everything. Not just the good things, but even the bad. It takes moments of quietude and reflection to feel this presence. It takes a settling in to the now, to the moment. When the mind becomes still and the past and future fall away, in that space we can see Krishna smiling. As we become more and more receptive to Krishna's presence, He reaches out to us through the material energy (just as recently happened to my wife when He gave her one of Prabhupada's books in the most unusual and unexpected of ways). There are those events that cannot be taken as coincidence or accident.

One time, while in the post office waiting in line, I looked down on the floor and saw a picture of Sri Nathaji starring back at me! It was a small, little card with a picture of Sri Nathaji on it. What were the odds? Sometimes Krishna even speaks through people in our environment, even though they're not devotees. The fact is, and this is the point I'm trying to make, is that Krishna is EVERYWHERE and AT ALL TIMES! He simply hides from us, because it's our desire to try and enjoy separately from Him. We want the distractions, we want the maya, because it gives us some sense of happiness and pleasure. We're ignorant to the true happiness, bliss and peace that comes from constantly being in touch with Krishna.

Gurudeva, without your mercy I fear that I will remain in my conditioned state. I fear I will forever be addicted to sense gratification. Krishna's illusory energy is so powerful that I don't know how to overcome it. It's only by your causeless mercy that I will have any chance of becoming free from my bodily identification and desires for sense gratification. I cannot keep my mind fixed on Krishna and therefore I fall into the duality of happiness and distress in this material world. How will I ever come to the state of seeing Krishna always and everywhere in every situation and every circumstance? It is only through your mercy, Gurudeva. Please give me your mercy so that I may have some hope on this path of devotional service.