{"id":148,"date":"2007-06-18T23:07:25","date_gmt":"2007-06-18T23:07:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/atourcity.com\/bkgoswami.com\/?p=148"},"modified":"2013-12-06T13:10:54","modified_gmt":"2013-12-06T13:10:54","slug":"or-need-for-autonomy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atourcity.com\/bkgoswami.com\/or-need-for-autonomy\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Need for Autonomy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our Need for Autonomy<\/span><\/p>\n

Autonomy is an interesting concept. It is defined as: “independence or
\nfreedom, as of the will or one’s actions.”<\/span><\/p>\n

It is a basic need of the soul to be autonomous, which basically means the
\nsoul needs to be free to express itself.<\/span><\/p>\n

Outside of Krishna consciousness autonomy is not possible for the soul. Why
\nis this? Krishna das Kaviraja Goswami explains this quite nicely in the
\nCaitanya Caritamrta:<\/span><\/p>\n

“Because a devotee of Lord Krsna is desireless, he is peaceful. Fruitive
\nworkers desire material enjoyment, jnanis desire liberation, and yogis
\ndesire material opulence; therefore they are all lusty and cannot be
\npeaceful. (Madhya 19.149)<\/span><\/p>\n

In other words everyone (other than a pure devote) is controlled by
\ncravings, whether those cravings are for gross enjoyment, liberation, or
\npowers in this world. The experience of cravings is not a pleasant
\nexperience. It is an experience that agitates the mind and separates one
\nfrom contact with one’s original spiritual nature.<\/span><\/p>\n

Recently I have been observing different cravings that people have in this
\nworld. Sometimes cravings are described as addictions when they become
\nespecially intense and one feels that one can not live without the object of
\ndesire.<\/span><\/p>\n

Generally we think of addictions as relating to some illicit drug habit. But
\naddictions are far more widespread than that.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example there are food addictions (sugar, salt, fats, chocolate etc).
\nThe proof that these are addictions is that we feel that we can not live
\nwithout these things, and we literally have psychological and physiological
\nsymptoms of withdrawal if denied these things.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are other things that one may be addicted to such as the experience of
\nfalling in love, adrenaline rushes (winning a competition), conquering an
\nenemy, etc. Even one may be addicted to the rush of enjoying the fruits of
\none’s preaching (collecting money, disciples, etc).<\/span><\/p>\n

We should be introspective enough to understand when we have these
\naddictions. We should understand that these addictions are making us
\nmiserable.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why?<\/span><\/p>\n

Krishna explains why in the Gita. He explains that intense hankering (being
\naddicted, craving, etc) comes from the mode of passion:<\/span><\/p>\n

“The mode of passion is born of unlimited desires and longings, O son of
\nKunti, and because of this the embodied living entity is bound to material
\nfruitive actions.” (Gita 14.7)<\/span><\/p>\n

One interesting point about the mode of passion is that the experience one
\nhas through endeavors in the mode of passion give one the illusion of
\nhappiness (having nectar) in the beginning, but in the end the experience is
\nequivalent to taking poison. (Gita 18.38)<\/span><\/p>\n

So, if we want to fulfill our real need for autonomy-freedom, there is a
\nspecific course of action prescribed for us. If we don’t want to be
\nautonomous then we should continue with our addictions. It is up to us.<\/span><\/p>\n

The course of action is to cultivate the mode of goodness. Of course in the
\nbeginning that cultivation makes us think that we have increased our
\nsuffering since we are no longer chasing after the objects of our cravings.
\nBut in the end the cravings gradually disappear and one experiences a great
\nrelief (nectar) (Gita 18:37)<\/span><\/p>\n

Also we find in the Gita that on the brahman platform cravings are
\nnon-existent, and one is qualified to transcend this world and perform pure
\ndevotional service. (Gita 18:54) Also one experiences true happiness of the
\nself.<\/span><\/p>\n

I personally experienced this with my diet. I was thinking that life without
\ncheese would be miserable, a life-a life not worth living! But, for sake of
\nserving Srila Prabhupada for a longer period of time in this body, I gave it
\nup. In the beginning it was difficult as the body was hankering for this,
\nbut ultimately the bodily cravings disappeared.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now the experience I have is that of relief. It is like breathing fresh air
\nor being let out of prison to no longer be controlled by that craving.
\nFreedom is much more blissful than being controlled by the forces of nature.
\nI sometimes feel like running outside and jumping for joy!<\/span><\/p>\n

In the spiritual world we get to experience and fulfill our need for
\nautonomy to the fullest extent.<\/span><\/p>\n

One may object to this statement and say that the soul is never independent
\nand in the spiritual world we are also controlled (under daiva prakriti or
\nYoga Maya), but the experience of the spiritual realm is of
\nvoluntarily-ecstatically serving. There is no force.<\/span><\/p>\n

We can see how Krishna explains Krishna consciousness to Arjuna in the Gita.<\/span><\/p>\n

He doesn’t threaten-ie: “listen to me or I will send you to hell”<\/span><\/p>\n

He doesn’t use guilt trips- ie: “you have been my friend for my whole life.
\nI have given everything to you Arjuna. How could you do this to me? You are
\nkilling me Arjuna.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Krishna is simply explaining the facts of life to Arjuna and leaving it up
\nArjuna to utilize his free will in whichever way Arjuna wishes.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is also how we should present Krishna consciousness to others:
\n1. Here are the facts
\n2. Don’t you want to be free?
\n3. Don’t you want to enjoy?
\n4. Here is how you do it.
\n5. It is your choice.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our Need for Autonomy Autonomy is an interesting concept. It is defined as: “independence or freedom, as of the will or one’s actions.” It is a basic need of the soul to be autonomous, which basically means the soul needs to be free to express itself. Outside of Krishna consciousness autonomy is not possible for read more>><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[38,27,39,25,14],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atourcity.com\/bkgoswami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atourcity.com\/bkgoswami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atourcity.com\/bkgoswami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atourcity.com\/bkgoswami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atourcity.com\/bkgoswami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/atourcity.com\/bkgoswami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":476,"href":"https:\/\/atourcity.com\/bkgoswami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions\/476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atourcity.com\/bkgoswami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atourcity.com\/bkgoswami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atourcity.com\/bkgoswami.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}