A few years ago, before my daughter was born, I had watched
a few episodes of the children’s television show “Yo Gabba Gabba”. I was
immediately attracted to its quirky, humorous and at times psychedelic imagery
and storylines. It’s completely my creative aesthetic. I remember saying to my
wife while she was still pregnant, “I want our daughter to grow up watching and
loving this show!” Fast-forward to today and my almost 2-year old daughter is
attached to and obsessed with everything Gabba. Mission accomplished!
In the process I have also developed an unhealthy level of
attachment to it, to the point that I’m buying Yo Gabba Gabba trading cards,
collectible figures and giant, plush pillows in the shape of the characters! I
also sometimes find myself doing random eBay and Etsy searches for “Yo Gabba
Gabba”. Throughout the day I may find myself singing or humming a song from the
show. I also know in which episodes certain things happen, for example: in the
“Differences” episode Toodee yells at Gooble and tells him to “go cry somewhere
else”. I also at times feel like I know the psychology behind each character
and how they would act in a given situation. It’s almost as if they’re real to
me!
How did this happen? How did I, and my daughter, become so
obsessed with it? I was reflecting on this from a Krishna Conscious perspective
and I realized it’s all about conditioning and association. The more time we
are exposed to and associate with something (or someone) we start to emulate,
assimilate and become like that. It’s all about the repetition of exposure.
This is how conditioning works. It’s just like smoking cigarettes. The first
time someone inhales the smoke it’s an unpleasant experience. It burns and
makes them cough, but there is some pleasure from the nicotine, so they
continue to do it. They repeat the process so much until they are no longer
adversely affected by the inhalation of smoke. The smoker becomes conditioned
to it. Conversely, it’s also the same with exercise. At first we may be
extremely out of shape and become short of breath walking up a flight of
stairs. After continued exercising the heart and lungs become stronger; they
become conditioned.
As conditioned souls we have been repeatedly exposed to the
material energy from time immemorial. We have intimately associated with it for
so long that the conception of anything beyond it seems imaginary and unreal.
While wandering around in this material energy we have come up with so many
avenues for sense gratification. We have devised countless ways to be
distracted, enamored and conditioned by the material world. In the veil of
these distractions Yo Gabba Gabba is just another thread.
Sometimes I joke with my wife that we should have been
showing our daughter Krishna Conscious videos from her birth so that she would
be obsessed with Krishna. Am I doing a disservice to my daughter by making her
attached to such mundane things? I can imagine some strict, stalwart Vaishnavas
would respond with an emphatic, “YES!” The not-so-stalwart devotees would say,
“Lighten up, she’s just a kid!” Unfortunately being one of those lowly, not so
strict “devotees” I lean towards the side of thinking, “It’s really not a big
deal. She has her whole life to become Krishna Conscious. Besides, she’s too
young to even really appreciate or understand it.”
I sometimes wonder what the benefit would be of dressing her
up in Indian clothing, putting tilak on her forehead, tulasi beads around her neck and getting her to put her
arms up and shout “Haribol!” if all she’s doing is blindly, innocently
imitating. I guess it can make the parents feel a sense of pride, like “Hey,
look at what an awesome devotee my kid is!” but does it really afford the child
any real benefit? Sure, it’s the benefit of influence and devotional impressions,
but even children born to strict Vaishnava parents can go on to become
drinkers, smokers, drug-takers and sex addicts. Ultimately isn’t it my child’s
karma that will determine their level of enthusiasm, interest and faith in
Krishna Consciousness? As we all know, many of us grew up in non-devotional,
materialistic, “demoniac” households and still came to the path of bhakti later
in our lives. So I guess I don’t believe that exclusively exposing children to
Krishna Conscious music, movies and themes leads to a pure devotee. There are
so many karmic factors involved for every individual that we can’t always
understand it on the surface.
However we spend our time here in this material world is how
we become. In other words, if I spend all of my time absorbed in thoughts of
comic books, I will become an expert in comic books. If I spend all of my time
absorbed in thoughts of art education, I will become an expert in art education.
We are all in the process of being “brainwashed”. We fill up our brains with
the desires of our hearts. The question is, “What drives our desires here in
this world?” Why am I obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba, yet another parent or
another person could care less about it? It then seems to become a question of
karma and destiny. The “how” and “why” of what drives us is intimately
connected to our karma. We are born into this world with certain parents,
certain peers, and certain associations that shape, mold and influence us to
become who we are at present. Even at the present moment we are taking in
various influences from our environments that continue to color the lens of our
perception and consciousness.
Is my attachment to all things Gabba a detriment on the path
of devotional service? No doubt it is. I know it’s just nonsense maya. I know
it distracts me from thinking about God and service to God. The problem is that
I don’t take it as a serious problem, because my faith and devotion are so
weak. There is honestly no way to “have our cake” and “eat it too”. There is no
way to mix water with oil. There is no way to have a little maya in our life
and to be Krishna Conscious at the same time.
At some point I will have
to choose which life I want. I will have to decide between maya (sense
gratification) and Krishna (selfless devotional service). I just hope I can
make the right decision before I die. I also hope I don’t call out the name of
Brobee at the time of death.
No comments:
Post a Comment