Happy New Year. Many of us will be entering the new year with a sense of hope and renewed
enthusisam, looking forward to positive change and new opportunities unfolding.
However, some of us may be starting off this year feeling unclear about our
purpose and unsure how to navigate the many challenges of our life. We may feel
confused and directionless. Perhaps our life feels like a giant puzzle that is
impossible to solve.
Puzzles can be a great source of entertainment. For example,
I personally enjoy putting together jigsaw puzzles, yet when they are particularly
challenging, it can be tempting to just give up. When it comes to the seemingly
unsolvable problems of our life, many of us would probably find it helpful to
have the support of a puzzle master who could shine light on our situation and
help us figure it out. Fortunately, there is one person who can solve any
puzzle, however challenging. That person is the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
expert of all experts, the omniscient one who knows our past, present, and
future. In the bhakti tradition he is often referred to as Krsna, the all
attractive one.
Here is a suggestion for a simple prayer we can offer if we
are feeling overwhelmed in life: “My dear Lord, you are expert in everything. I
am feeling stuck in life and don’t know in which direction to proceed. Kindly
give me some clarity with my situation and help me understand how to proceed in
a way that will be best for my life and in a way that will help me come closer
to you.”
Srila Prabhupada, the founder of the International Society
for Krsna Consciousness, also appealed to the lord in a similar fashion when he
was journeying to the USA on a steam cargo ship to spread the teachings of
Bhagavad Gita in the west.
 |
| Srila Prabhupada |
“I do not know why You have brought me here. Now You can
do whatever You like with me.
Most of the population here is covered by the
material modes of ignorance and passion. Absorbed in material life, they think
themselves very happy and satisfied, and therefore they have no taste for the
transcendental message of Vasudeva. I do not know how they will be able to
understand it.
But I know Your causeless mercy can make everything
possible because You are the most expert mystic.
Somehow or other, O Lord, You have brought me here to
speak about You. Now, my Lord, it is up to You to make me a success or failure
as You like.
O Lord, I am just like a puppet in Your hands. So if You
have brought me here to dance, then make me dance, make me dance, O Lord, make
me dance as You like.”
When we can take great inspiration from these words of Srila
Prabhupada and try to imbibe a similar mood in our life. When we feel in life,
when we feel like we have lost hope for how to proceed, then we can also bring
this to the attention of the Lord and ask him to shine his light of mercy on
our life so that we can better understand how to resolve the puzzle of our life
in a way that would be best for our spiritual growth.
In regard to puzzles, I would like to leave you with some
transcendnetal trivia. In the Krisna book, which describes some of Krsna’s
wonderful pastimes on this planet 5000 years ago, there is mention of “Krsna
and his brother Balarama studied the art of solving crossword puzzles, filling
up the missing spaces and making complete words.”
Wishing all of you a year filled with spiritual
realizations.
