Is the richest person in this world most successful ?
A person is said to be more successful if he earns more money because from money we could buy all the essential things necessary for our life like food, clothes, a home, vehicles, etc. Let’s take the example of the richest man on earth. He is considered very successful by everyone because he has earned more money and has all the pleasures and facilities he needs. He owns many luxurious items for which many people would die. But I have one question. “Does he own all these things permanently?” I mean, I would consider him the most successful person if he would permanently own all the things that he has right now.
Worldly pleasure is limited for specific time
But it is impossible because, generally, human beings live on this earth for around 100 years, then everything will be snatched away from them along with their bodies. Consider it as a natural process of the rule of God: everyone has to leave this world one day. One day the richest person will also die and have to leave all his earnings here. He cannot take his earnings to the place where he will go after his death. So, the richest man on earth is successful, but only for a limited amount of time. It is not for eternity. My question is, What if we could earn something that will not be snatched away from us even after we die ? Is that possible?
Who am I ?
Yes, it is possible. But before that, we have to know: what is my real identity? Who am I really? During the Dwapar age, Uddhav asked Shri Krishna, Who is the most foolish in this world ? Then Krishna replied, The one who considers himself as this body is the most stupid in this world. Generally, many people in this world consider themselves as this body, but in reality, we are the soul.
How is this soul? The soul is actually divine and cannot be perceived by any of our senses. We are the soul, but we can’t see it or touch it. Let me clarify with one example. Suppose a person is driving a car. We can consider the car as our body and the driver as the soul, who is the real me. Actually, the soul is not like any part of the body, such as the head, heart, hands, legs, etc., but it is rather the real me, which is divine. Thus, we have understood that we are the soul and not this body.
We have forgotten our true self and running towards worldly pleasures
Now the question is, “How can we get permanent success that can never be snatched by anyone?” Now let’s answer the question. Actually, we have been realizing ourselves as this body from eternity, and the success of this body is our real success. Thus, when this body was snatched away from us, it seemed everything was snatched from us. But, in reality, we are the soul. We have never thought about the welfare and success of this soul, so how could we attain permanent success from it?
Let me clarify with an example. Suppose Hari owns a car worth $1 million but has only had it for two years. He has been taking good care of the car and spending money on it for the past two years. After two years, when the car was snatched away from him, all his hard work will be wasted. Similarly, we are the soul, and like Hari, we have focused on our body and are always trying to achieve material success. And if we have forgotten about the success of the real me, which is the soul, then how could we achieve permanent success?
Here are seven steps by following which we can achieve permanent success and real happiness.
1. We must know who our true cause is.
Our scriptures state that we are the soul and that Shri Krishna is our true father. Not only our father, but He is also our mother, our true friend, our only wealth, and our everything. Thus, the true cause of the soul is Shri Krishna, who is also the master of infinite universes. Just like a river flows toward its cause, which is the ocean, similarly, we also want infinite bliss, which is inside Shri Krishna.
But from eternity we have been searching for that bliss in the material world, so in return we have always got suffering. Since the true cause of us (the soul) is Shri Krishna, the ultimate aim of the soul is to attain Shri Krishna. Thus, we will be considered successful if we can attain Shri Krishna. Now, how do I attain Shri Krishna? It will be explained in the next few points.
2. Our heart is filled with numerous sins.
To attain Shri Krishna, one must have a sinless heart, but our heart is filled with infinite sins. Why is our mind filled with sin? The reason is we have been realizing ourselves as this body and not the soul, and to provide pleasure to our senses, we have been committing numerous sins since eternity, and today also we are committing some kind of sin. What is sin? Simply put, whenever your mind is not contemplating God, that is sin. Attaching our minds to worldly pleasures is sin instead of attaching them to the lotus feet of Shri Krishna. Thus, our minds have become very dirty due to countless sins. Then how do we make our heart pure? It is explained in the next step.
3. How do we purify our heart?
We know that God is the pure personality and material or worldly pleasure is impure. So if we attach our mind to the pleasures of the world, then our mind becomes more impure, whereas if we attach our mind to the lotus feet of Shri Krishna, then gradually our mind becomes impure. Our mind is like a very dirty cloth, which we must now purify with soap and water. That soap and water represent God, while dirt represents worldly pleasure. How can we attach our minds to God? Let’s see this in the next point.
4. Taking the name of God
The first and foremost step of purifying our hearts is by taking the name of God. You may take any name you like. All the names are equally powerful, and God himself, along with all his power, resides in his name. So we must at least chant the name of God for about 10 minutes daily, and if you are a serious devotee, you can spend your whole day chanting the name of God. Chanting the name of God is so powerful that it can very quickly destroy the sins inside our heart because God himself resides in his name.
But along with taking his name, we must also meditate upon his divine form because meditation is the job of the mind, and we must purify our minds, not our tongues. Thus, our mind must be attached to the name chanting, and we must chant his divine name with love. There is a Hare Ram Mahamantra, which we can chant: “Hare Ram Hare Ram, Ram Ram Hare Hare, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare.” If you wish, you can take Krishna in front and Ram at last, which people generally call the Hare Krishna Mahamantra.
But doing so, we must never regard Ram and Krishna as different personalities. They are the same. And if we regard them as different, then it will be the biggest sin, which is unforgivable. So we must be careful in this. In the next step, we will learn how to meditate upon the divine form of God.
5. Meditating upon the divine form of Shri Krishna
It is very easy to meditate on the divine form of Shri Krishna. First, put any picture of Shri Krishna that you like in front of you. See the picture carefully and close your eyes. Now, while closing your eyes, try to make that picture in your mind. It will take a lot of effort and practice. At first, it will be very hard to make the picture of Shri Krishna in our minds. But after constant practice, we will be able to make a clear picture. So just open your eyes again and see the picture carefully, and again close your eyes and make the picture in your heart.
Continue doing this for at least 10 minutes a day. And while you make a picture of Shri Krishna inside your heart, we must have the feeling that this is the real Shri Krishna, and we must make that picture as lively as we can. Like Shri Krishna is walking, He is breathing, His eyes are blinking, etc. If you are a serious devotee, then doing this task for a whole day could be quite hard. So in the next step, I will teach you how to do meditation for a longer time.
6. Singing Virtues of Shri Krishna
While meditating, we must always sing the virtues of Shri Krishna, which is also known as kirtan. Just listen to any kirtan (song) of Shri Krishna you like and meditate accordingly to that song. There are two kinds of kirtan: one is written by great saints like Tulsidas, Surdaas, Mira, etc., whereas the other is written by general people. It is better if we choose the kirtans written by saints because it will boost our meditation, but normal kirtans are also fine.
7. You will attain God with the help of his saints.
If you constantly keep on following the above things, where you constantly attach your mind to Shri Krishna, then you can attain Shri Krishna, but one rule of Shri Krishna is that he can only be attained with the help of his saint. So after your heart is totally purified, Shri Krishna will send his saint, with the help of whom you can attain Shri Krishna.
In this way, we (soul) can attain its ultimate goal and be successful permanently. After we attain god, we never have to be under Maya (ignorance) anymore and will always be in his service in his divine abode (Golok).