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Addendum to "Finding Happiness in the Bhagavad-gita"

Submitted by Gauranga Prasad Das on September 14, 2007 - 6:40pm.
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by Carl Sheppard

Finding Happiness in the Bhagavad-gita

Authors note: Although I wrote this essay for a general audience, I would like to make a short statement to those inmates who are reading my essay in the ISKCON newsletter:

I am an inmate myself. I have been confined for over five years now and face several more. As inmates, our ability to find happiness through our material senses is already greatly curtailed, and yet, as we all know, most inmates still chase this illusive goal.

In place of a beer, they drink “jailhouse wine;” in place of a night with a woman, they turn to pornography or another man; and in place of a day in the mountains or at the beach, they are forced to rely on memories or fantasies. Even in such a restricted environment as ours, the poor conditioned souls still try to squeeze some elixir of happiness from the dry sponge of matter, maya (material illusion). But we don’t have to continue to strive for those sour grapes. Our time in prison can be seen as a wonderful blessing. We can utilize our time to make an honest and sincere attempt to seek our natural, eternal state of happiness that lies within.

Lord Krishna is very kind. He has given us such a simple formula with which we can tap into our inner state of peaceful bliss. I can tell you for a fact, from one convict to another, that the happiness that is found through connecting ourselves with Sri Krishna is of a purer, higher, and more consistent nature than that which can be experienced through the senses, and it can be tasted anytime and anywhere, even inside the barbed wire fences that surround us.

Of course, the only way to know for sure that Krishna’s prescription for happiness works is to follow His instructions yourself, and I ask you to do so with an open mind and an open heart, while feeling confident your efforts will be rewarded.

Read about Krishna, think about Krishna, and pray to Krishna. When the opportunity presents itself, tell others about Krishna. Worship Krishna within your mind and heart and chant Krishna’s names, for these are truly the golden keys to happiness.

 

‹ The Envy EnemyupSri Sri Prahlad-Narasimhadeva ›
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