If we go to the ocean, the terrain there could be put into one of three categories. One category would be the areas of higher beach that don’t fall under the water even at high tide. These are the areas where the dune grasses grow, where there is permanent vegetation and animal and insect life. Another category of the ocean terrain would be areas that are always under water, and the final category would be the areas that are marginal, sometimes under water, sometimes not, depending on the tides, boat wakes, weather and wind conditions, or other factors.
The creation can be looked at in a similar way. There are aspects of creation that are material and that fall under the laws of the material energy. There is the eternal, joyful spiritual world that is free of all the contaminations of the material realm and where time is conspicuous by its absence. And there are the marginal jivas, or spirit souls, us, who can take shelter in either place, according to a beautiful, innate phenomena called choice, or free will.
We’re currently in the realm of matter, or material form. In this material world, there appear to be a universe of attractive choices that present themselves to us. We can apparently make choices around sexuality, career, entertainment, what we eat, where we eat, what we wear, so many things, but these are all choices pertaining to the material experience. Accepting any of these choices thinking that we can find greater enjoyment just entangles us more in the material experience, and deepens the material hold on us.
If we’re fortunate, there will eventually be frustration, an awareness that none of it is giving us real and ongoing pleasure. But there is not any education in the mundane world that offers us information about the spiritual reality, let alone any that gives us a practical way to enter that path of spiritual development.
I’m pro-choice, but not in the way that modern society uses the term. I’m pro-choice in the sense that there needs to also be access to the information that frees us from the entrapment of this material world and its seductions. There needs to be access to the education that gives us the joyful practices that put us on the road to the eternal realm of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Reservoir of All Pleasure.
There are two options we have, to align our choices with the laws and reactions of the mundane world, or to align our choices, or free will, with the direct will of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna. If we continue to align with the temporary world of matter, we can stay in this frustrating cesspool of the material world for what seems like eternity, birth after birth. If we make the choice to align with God, we’ll attain our real happiness.
But we can’t make a real choice without knowing the options that we have, and the ramifications of our decisions. All sources of information in this material world simply intrigue us in various ways to stay here. But the scientific literatures that offer the spiritual wisdom that enables us to make a truly informed choice are the books of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. They open the doors to the Transcendent Reality. They have been available since the late 1960s and early and mid 1970s in many languages, and are eternally relevant.
With the level of chaos and confusion in modern society, all over the world, the need for the sane and uplifting subject matter they contain is greater than ever. These books have the transcendental potency to empower us in our personal spiritual success. I hope you’ll decide to study them. Then, you’ll be able to make informed choices as to your destiny and the destiny of your loved ones.
