Don’t Be Imitative – In Gita Verse 14.14 When one dies in the mode of goodness, he attains to the pure higher planets of the great sages.
What Krishna Means By the Mode of Goodness: A Journey Beyond Imitation
In the Bhagavad Gita, when Krishna speaks of the mode of goodness (sattva), he is not advocating for a life of imitation but rather for a journey towards authenticity, an exploration of one’s own interiority that transcends mere repetition and extends into true experience.
The Misunderstood Lesson: The Master and the Cat
Consider a tale that is stamped in the annals of spiritual lore. A venerated Master, steeped in meditation, found tranquillity in the presence of his cat, tethered to a post as he turned inward. This habitual scene, misunderstood by his disciples, crystallised into a ritual. So much so, that after the Master’s passing, the act of binding cats to posts became synonymous with their meditation practice, erroneously equated as a conduit to spiritual depth.
The Slippery Slope of Imitation
It is here we err. The disciples mistook the external form for the internal essence. The Master was not fostering a practice of tying cats for spiritual elevation; it was a mere practical measure. In imitating his outer actions without grasping the inner essence, they drifted from the authentic practice he intended to impart.
Don’t Be Imitative: Seeking Authenticity in Spirituality
Let this be a cautionary tale against the seductive ease of imitation. Spiritual practice is not akin to a performer’s act, flawlessly mimicking the motions without feeling the emotion. Krishna’s call for the mode of goodness is not a summons to replicate but an invitation to initiate – to commence an inward odyssey that is exclusively yours.
Krishna implores us to uncover our own paths, to distil the essential teachings through the sieve of personal experience. When we hear of the mode of goodness, we should refrain from hastily adopting second-hand spiritual habits. Instead, we should labour to kindle our own inner light, which may illuminate the path ahead, not in the likeness of another’s journey, but aligned with the authenticity of our own being.
Experience Over Repetition
Beyond mindless repetition, there lies the fertile ground of experience. Engage with Krishna’s teachings not as dictums to be followed blindly, but as hypotheses to be tested passionately in the laboratory of life. Life’s most profound truths are not to be chanted but to be lived, breathed, and ultimately felt in the core of our being.
Fostering Openness, Embracing Goodness
To dwell in the mode of goodness requires an openness to experience the Divine in its manifold forms, unencumbered by the rigidity of language or the confines of concept. As Krishna extols the virtues of sattva, he invites us to witness the universe through a lens wiped clean of the dust of habitual perception.
The Inner Revelation of Goodness
Embracing this pure mode of goodness, one arrives at a profound inner revelation – that to truly know, one must first accept the vastness of the unknown. It is from this space of genuine understanding and clear vision that attaining the higher planets of the great sages is not just a lofty ideal but a tangible possibility.
Let this be a testament to our spiritual endeavours: to transcend imitation, find resonance in genuine experience, and thus arise to the higher echelons of consciousness that Krishna elucidates in the mode of goodness.
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