“Ishvara (the Supreme Lord), jiva (the living entity), prakriti (nature), eternal time and karma (activity) are all explained in the Bhagavad-gita. Out of these five, the Lord, the living entities, material nature and time are eternal.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Bhagavad-gita, Introduction)

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The conversations tend to not go well. There is always an abrupt halt. It is almost like a game. Mention anything else and your companion, your colleague, your friend, your close relative, or what have you will go along. They might even repeat the same grievance, praise, complaint, or saying. But for some reason, the moment you mention a higher concept, even barely resembling what they deem to be religion, they stop. The conversation ends. It turns sour. They would rather discuss anything else. On this particular day, you try a different approach. You ask a series of questions, each of which is relevant to any person, living in any period of time. The honest person, who is sober at the time and willing to engage, will at least attempt to give a rational response.

1. Who are you?

“Have you ever given thought to who exactly you are? No, no, I understand that you have a name. It was given to you at birth. The same for me. We had no say in the matter. The parents decided upon it. You shouldn’t complain. My name happens to be most commonly given to females. My parents swear that in some cases males will have the name. They say that the female version has the letter ‘I’ appended. The problem is I just do not see it. AI chatbots confirm that the name applies to both males and females, but thus far I have only come across females with the name.

“Anyway, you and I both know that the name is not everything. The name can change. We could go to the local county office today and change our name. Just who is it that we are, then? What is the essence of our identity? Have you ever thought about it?”

2. Who are you not?

“Have you ever seen those images that can be interpreted in different ways? You know, where it looks like a series of bowls placed on a kitchen table. The bowls look like they are empty. Then, if you look closely enough the bowls are actually upside down. Once you see it the second way, you can never go back to seeing them as empty. It is a kind of optical illusion. Well, if you were to finally decide upon identity, in settling upon who we actually are, does not everything else become empty?

“Do you know what I mean? It is like working on a coloring book. If you color in the main image, then everything else is still white. You have the image and then the opposite of the image. If we figure out identity, then everything else would be non-identity. Isn’t that a crazy concept? Have you ever wondered how much of our existence deals with non-identity?”

3. How did you get here?

“Have you ever wondered how we got here? I know, you drove your car to meet me. I drove my car. I am talking about placement. Like how did you end up working in your field? You went to school, right? You chose the right school. You performed well on examinations. You chose between different offers from employers. It is a similar story for most professionals. They make choices at the beginning. Those choices have consequences. What about for life itself? Do you think there are choices that determined the circumstances of our birth?”

4. How soon do you see results?

“Have you noticed that sometimes the results to our work don’t materialize right away? For instance, I decided to meet up with you today. I got in the car and drove. The result to that choice came into shape soon thereafter. Sometimes, the action might have been a long time ago. Planting a seed, for instance. Waiting for the fruit to ripen on the tree. Changes to diet and exercise. Is it possible that the results come after a really long time, stretching beyond our ability to remember? For instance, do you think we are enjoying today because of something good we did a long time ago?”

अदृष्टगुणदोषाणामध्रुवाणां तु कर्मणाम्
नान्तरेण क्रियां तेषां फलमिष्टं प्रवर्तते

adṛṣṭaguṇadoṣāṇāmadhruvāṇāṃ tu karmaṇām
nāntareṇa kriyāṃ teṣāṃ phalamiṣṭaṃ pravartate

“Unseen and indefinite are the good and bad reactions of fruitive work. And without taking action, the desired fruits of such work cannot manifest.” (Lakshmana speaking to Lord Rama, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 66.17)

5. Do you think there is something overseeing everything?

“We know that stuff works. We know that if you put gas in the car, the vehicle will travel a certain number of miles. This is not by accident. There is something called configuration. When we think of identity, non-identity, action and consequence, there must be someone above it all, no? They must have implemented the system in the first place. They must have decided when and where the results to action will manifest. Have you ever given thought to that? I can’t imagine something so complex and intelligently designed would be the product of randomness. After all, the absence of intelligence produces results that have no intelligence. That has been our experience thus far.”

…

In this way, a person has covered the main topics discussed in Bhagavad-gita. These are the initial points of inquiry. They are the questions every rational person should ask. This means that genuine religion is not really religion at all. It is something that covers the very nature of living. It is something that should resolve doubts. It is something that should be followed without fear, without hesitation, and without exhaustion. It should be something that eventually brings a thrill at every moment, in the way experienced by the narrator known as Sanjaya.

राजन् संस्मृत्य संस्मृत्य
संवादम् इमम् अद्भुतम्
केशवार्जुनयोः पुण्यं
हृष्यामि च मुहुर् मुहुः

rājan saṁsmṛtya saṁsmṛtya
saṁvādam imam adbhutam
keśavārjunayoḥ puṇyaṁ
hṛṣyāmi ca muhur muhuḥ

“O King, as I repeatedly recall this wondrous and holy dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna, I take pleasure, being thrilled at every moment.” (Sanjaya, Bhagavad-gita, 18.76)

In Closing:

On this topic just hear,
How did we get here?

Give me identity true,
And just who not are you.

What actions previously to take,
Such that current landscape to make.

Must be one overseeing it all,
Inquiry as real religion to call.

Categories: the five

Tags: dailyprompt, hare krishna, life, poem, poems, poetry, religion