Swami Prakashanand Saraswati emphasizes that true human happiness transcends worldly pursuits and is rooted in the soul’s longing for Divine perfection. He guides us to recognize that while mental desires are fleeting and limited, the soul’s ultimate goal is to connect with Krishn and experience pure, unending Divine love.
Swami Prakashanand Saraswati emphasizes…
Every human being has two kinds of desires: (a) An internal desire comes from the soul which is to find Divine perfection or God and (b) many other desires which the human mind forms on its own. All mental desires relate to perception. When a person perceives something interesting, he begins to desire for it, not before that.
For instance, a person who is blind since birth and has never seen anything in the world cannot desire for anything that is visually beautiful. The world is full of many interesting and attractive things that multiply your desires every day, these are all worldly desires.
Your inner desire is only one and it is to meet God. It comes from your soul, which is located next to your fully unconscious mind. Next to your soul is Krishn and between your soul and Krishn there is a cosmic veil, the mayic curtain (known in our scriptures as chit-jad-granthi), which prohibits the soul from receiving Krishn love. The soul’s desire for Divine perfection is transferred through your fully unconscious mind to subconscious mind, which transfers it to your conscious mind. But your conscious mind only sees outwardly, it cannot interpret the Divineness of the desire, so it tries to fulfill the soul’s innate desire by offering it worldly things.
Saints give us the knowledge that we are desiring for perfect love and happiness, which is non-existent in the material realm. Furthermore, every worldly situation has its negative aspect: pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow, life and death. You may try for billions of lifetimes to achieve perfection and to change this situation in this world, but you can never succeed because mayic energy has an inherent nature of both, good and bad qualities, and also has limitations.
Saints and the scriptures explain that the Divine realm has a nature and character of unlimited peace, joy, luxury and love. This Divine realm is just next to your soul. When you accept these facts, it is the beginning of jigyasa (the desire to know the truth).
You have lived uncountable lifetimes and so your mind has developed worldly consciousness, which stays in your conscious mind. Worldly consciousness means attachment to your physical body, friends, and relatives. A devotee has to transcend this kind of consciousness and realize his true and eternal relation with Krishn.
The heart is the seat of your mind, your soul, and Krishn. All three reside in your heart region. There is a Divya-akash, the Divine space, located near the center of your heart. Bring your mind to your heart and try to feel it centered there. Expand your self-awareness along with this feeling that Krishn is your eternal Divine beloved and you are His eternal lover. Practice this meditation during your devotions, in the morning and evening, and gradually your awareness of Divine love will expand, and you will realize that Krishn is next to your soul. At this stage you will receive less attraction to the world and more attraction to Krishn.
When this awareness develops it is called ‘divine-love-consciousness”.
Even the greatest yogis cannot cross the fully unconscious part of the mind, be- cause the subconscious mind is the limit of yog, and you have to cross the fully unconscious mind to reach Krishn. Shankaracharya says:
“Shudhyati hi nantratma Krishn pad-ambhojbhaktimrite”
“Only through the Grace of Krishn your heart is completely purified.”
You cannot proceed on your own efforts. Only Krishn’s Grace takes you across subconscious, unconscious and fully unconscious mind and ensures His vision.
So, try to keep the awareness of Krishn love in your heart. Retain this consciousness for the maximum time each day and night, and you will be proceeding towards the desire of your soul, the ultimate Divine realization… the Krishn love. Thus, Swami Prakashanand Saraswati elucidates that while mental desires stem from worldly perceptions and are inherently limited, the soul’s true desire is to experience Divine love and perfection. By focusing on spiritual practices and seeking Krishn’s grace, one can transcend material desires and achieve the ultimate realization of Divine love.