Earlier in our series of articles, we introduced the definition of the real ‘I’ and the absolute identity of the Self.

Building higher on this foundation of the self, let us understand what is the relationship of the soul and its creator, God. The Vedas say that it is the only thing that needs to be understood, and that is, “You are mine and I am Yours.” There is no need to acquire any more knowledge. This is all we need to know, and yet it has taken us countless lifetimes to accept that God is ours and we are His. If we had understood this or if we ever manage to understand this in the future, then there will be nothing further to be known or attained. This means we must accept in our heart and mind that Shyamsundar is ours. Even in the world, we accept people as ours in order to fulfil our selfish desires.

A deep attachment develops simply by accepting one another. You know how far such attachments can go. We read love-stories of Romeo and Juliet, Laila-Majnu and Sheeri-Farhad. Their intense love was the consequence of mental acceptance of their relationship. It was not as if Laila and Majnu were born with deep love for one another. Their love developed over time. And it developed because they accepted a deep relationship with one another.

All of us have attachments in the world. So long as the object of our love is a worldly person, our attachment is material. Now we should accept the unanimous verdict of Saints and scriptures that God alone is ours. When we accept this, our love for God will develop and we will reach our goal. In infinite lifetimes, we saw innumerable Saints and descensions of God, yet our intellect refused to accept Shyamsundar as ours.

Instead, we firmly held on to the conviction that worldly relatives are ours. Consequently, we are revolving in 8.4 million forms of life. As long as our intellect refuses to accept that Shyamsundar alone is ours, we will continue to suffer. All the relationships made in infinite lifetimes are transient and limited to a single lifetime. In contrast, our relationship with Shyamsundar is genuine and permanent, and yet we do not accept it. How astonishing this is!

The soul has an eternal relationship with God. We are a part, a fraction of God’s infinite energy. We can understand it by looking at the rays of light that emanate from the Sun. A burning fire reaches towards the sky, to merge with its creator, the Sun. A lump of mud when held in hand seems to be separate. But when released, due to the force of gravity, falls back on earth. The lump of mud belongs to the earth, its creator. Similarly, the soul is divine and is an eternal fragment of God.

We are two: body and soul. We are not the body; we have a body. Similarly, we possess senses, mind and intellect. These are our faculties, but we are separate from them. All of these: body, senses, mind, and intellect, belong to us, and they are jointly referred to as the body. But we are the soul, which is distinct from the body. This body is made from the material energy Maya. On the other hand, the soul is Divine and is an eternal part of Shree Krishna.

…To be continued