May 27, 2007

There is a philosophy going around that if you desire something enough in a
positive way, and you visualize it continually the universe will deliver the
fruits of that desire.

There are some instances depicted where a man really wants something like a
new sports car and he meditates on it (don’t try this!), sees it in his
minds eye, tries it out in his imagination, surrounds himself with picture
of it, etc; and lo a behold this sports car manifests one day on the gross
plane and he is able to possess the object of his desire.

Of course possessing the object of your material desire does not give you
happiness. I will talk about that subject after talking about the conception
of the universe as one big Kalpa Vrksa (desire) tree or Aladdin’s Genie for
everyone.

Does the universe fulfill all your desires if the desires are strong enough?

There is an interesting word “synchronicity”, which means that events which
are not causally related (one event being the cause of the other) occur
together by the action of some unknown (in this case the universe) factor.

Sometimes we are speaking about someone else, and at the same time the
person calls on the phone. That would be an example of synchronicity.

So, what is actually happening, and how to explain this through the lens of
Vedic knowledge?

The universe is not unconscious nor it a big genie responding to everyone’s
wishes, nor is it impersonal energy responding to our mental energetic
radiation!

We know that behind all the universal functions there is Krishna as the
creator, law giver, overseer, permitter, proprietor, universal Supersoul,
individual Supersoul, etc. So, in other words “not a blade of grass moves
without the will of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”

Also there are 33 million demigods who control the universe under Krishna’s
direction.

So, why does it seem that when people desire things with great intensity and
they meditate on the fruits of their desire, the universe responds to their
desires? Srila Prabhupada explains this nicely in a purport:

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And so, when the living entity is bewildered in his desires, the Lord allows
him to fulfill those desires, but the Lord is never responsible for the
actions and reactions of the particular situation which may be desired.
Being in a bewildered condition, therefore, the embodied soul identifies
himself with the circumstantial material body and becomes subjected to the
temporary misery and happiness of life. The Lord is the constant companion
of the living entity as Paramatma, or the Supersoul, and therefore He can
understand the desires of the individual soul, as one can smell the flavor
of a flower by being near it. Desire is a subtle form of conditioning for
the living entity. The Lord fulfills his desire as he deserves: Man proposes
and God disposes. The individual is not, therefore, omnipotent in fulfilling
his desires. The Lord, however, can fulfill all desires, and the Lord, being
neutral to everyone, does not interfere with the desires of the minute
independent living entities. Purport Bg 5.15

The key phrase in Prabhupada’s purport is: “The Lord fulfills his desire as
he deserves…”

In other words if one is functioning under the laws of Karma one has a
certain stock of good karma and a certain stock of bad karma. The good karma
we can compare to a positive balance in our bank account.

When we have a strong desire to buy something, at a certain point that
desire motivates us to take the money out of our bank account so that we can
purchase the item. In the same way when we have a strong desire to get
something in this world, Krishna as the Supersoul is aware of this, and this
desire is fulfilled, if (and this is a big if) we have enough good karma in
our bank account.

Now, when we take the good karma out of our karmic bank account, guess what?
The amount of good karma in our karmic bank account is reduced by the amount
of the withdrawal. So after some time there will be no more good karma left
and we can desire till the cow jumps over the moon, but there will be no
response.

So, the person who is desiring to get a new sports car, beautiful wife, etc
is simply exhausting the fruits of his previous pious activities. If he knew
this he would be more careful about his desires!

This is the same concept Krishna describes in the Gita when he describes the
plight of the souls who go to the heavenly planets because their good karma
has bought them a vacation there. ksine punye martya-lokam visanti (Gita
9.21)-When their good Karma runs out they get kicked out of heaven and have
to come back here.

But, what about the devotee’s desires? A devotee has no bad or good karma.
All karma bad and good is eradicated even by namabhasa chanting.

Krishna reciprocates with a devotees desires, but He will only fulfill those
desires that are helpful to the devotee’s spiritual progress.

So, it is important for devotees to have proper desires and the stronger the
devotional desire is the quicker that desire will be fulfilled.

What is a desire? Oftentimes we confuse thoughts with desires, or we confuse
wishes with desires. A desire is something you really want with your heart
and soul. Of course there are degrees of intensity of desires. When someone
wants something with great intensity that is called in Sanskrit laulyam (or
intense greed). Tatra laulyam ekalam mulam; Prabhupada describes this
intense greed for pure devotional service as the “best path available.”

How do we develop this intense greed? In the material world greed is
developed by the process of thinking, feeling and willing.

In other words we think of something (take some food like pizza for
example). The more we think about (contemplate) that sense object the more
we get attached to it (Gita 2.62).

Then we begin to feel that object of our senses. In the case of pizza we
begin to salivate and almost taste it as we are visualizing our interacting
with that object.

Then the stage of willing comes where the desire is so intense, we act.

In Krishna consciousness, we contemplate Krishna, His Pastimes, His
devotees, His service, etc-all in a very positive joyous way.

This is very important. If we are negative we are meditating on a negative
and this is what we will get-a negative. In other words if we are
contemplating giving up this or not thinking about that we will develop a
stronger attachment to this or that by that negative contemplation.

After contemplation of Krishna in a positive way we enter the stage of
feelings. What does that mean?

We picture ourselves the way we want to be.

Just like the person who really wants a new sports car will envision himself
seated at the driver’s seat zooming down the highway with the top down.

So, we picture (visualize) ourselves performing the nine processes of bhakti
with great attention and devotion. We visualize ourselves as enthusiastic
preachers. We visualize ourselves as humble servants of our spiritual
master.

Of course when we come to the stage of Raganuga Bhakti the visualizations
and meditations change. But, the principle is the same.

When you picture yourself in this way, the intensity of your desire will
increase.

Not only can you picture yourself in this way, you can also picture others
as advanced Vaisnavas. Your expectation for them will shape them too. Not
only because the expectation will be communicated by you, but also because
if you are a real Vaisnava and you desire some good fortune for someone
else, Krishna will reciprocate with your intense desire.

One example of this can be found in Srila Prabhupada’s pastimes is that when
he arrived in the United States he had a vision of 108 temples. His
meditation was so intense that he understood that these temples already
existed. He expressed this very clearly when he stated: “We have 108
temples. Only time separates us.” He also envisioned devotees, books,
sankirtan parties, and the rest.

His vision became a physical reality. Krishna fulfills the desires of His
pure devotees.

We need to develop an intense internal vision and an intense external (the
entire world taking up Krishna consciousness) vision of Krishna
consciousness. These wishes will come true. Krishna will fulfill them.

When our meditation/vision is harmonious with Krishna’s desires, success is
sure.