kavim puranam anusasitaram anor aniyamsam anusmared yah
sarvasya dhataram acintya-rupam aditya-varnam tamasah parastat
(Bhagavad Gita 08.09)
Translation:
One should meditate upon the Supreme Person as the one who knows everything, as He who is the oldest, who is the controller, who is smaller than the smallest, who is the maintainer of everything, who is beyond all material conception, who is inconceivable, and who is always a person. He is luminous like the sun, and He is transcendental, beyond this material nature.
Reflection by Chaitanya Charan:
Suppose we get drenched by rains. On rushing home, if we try to dry ourselves using the wet clothes we are wearing, we labor in vain.
Living in today’s materialistic culture, we frequently get drenched by the torrential rain of impure temptations. When our conscience or intelligence awaken, we decide to get rid of such impurities.
However, our intention alone is not enough. Why? Because that intention is often sabotaged by our impure mind, which keeps deluding and degrading us internally with sensual fantasies. The mind is like the wet clothes with which drying ourselves is impossible.
Gita wisdom explains that we are pure souls covered by two material coverings: the physical body and the subtle mind. The Bhagavad-gita (02.22) compares our body to a dress. The physical body is our outer clothes and the mind, our innerwear. We leave the physical body behind at death, but the mind goes with us, life after life, for as long as we are in material existence. The mind is thus like clothes that are stuck to us.
Even while wearing wet clothes, we can dry ourselves by going near a strong dryer. Similarly, even with our impure mind, we can purify ourselves by going near the supremely pure being, Krishna. To help us take our consciousness closer to him, the Gita (08.09) outlines his extraordinary attributes: he is the wisest, the oldest, smaller than the smallest yet the controller of everything, inconceivable in form, radiant in transcendence, forever beyond the darkness that signifies impurity.
Rather than relying on our own intention to purify us, we need to use that intention to direct our contemplation towards Krishna. That divine contemplation purges us of our impurities and reinstates us in our pure identity as joyful parts of the joyful whole.
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