Krishna Das – Ep. 53 – Identity and Purpose

purpose

Krishna Das explores questions about the roots of our identity, finding purpose in life and planting the seeds of practice.

Show Notes

Seeds of Truth (Opening) – The Indian saint Ramakrishna described the chanting of the names of God is like planting a seed. Krishna Das describes how these seeds of our practice take root and dissolve the delusions of ego and separateness.

“Every time we come back from being gone, we have just planted a seed. When you are chanting and you notice for the last ten minutes you hadn’t been paying attention, you just came back. That’s a seed that is planted right there in that moment. The more of those seeds that get planted the easier it is to remember to come back, again and again.”

Maharaj-ji’s Life (15:10) – Unlike many spiritual teachers in India, Maharaj-ji never talked about his lineage. KD talks about what little is known about Maharaj-ji’s life before he became the teacher we know today.

“The secret is the love. You can have all these experiences and you can be blissed out of your mind, but until you taste that love you don’t know what is going on; it is the essence of everything. Maharaj-ji is that love and it is all-encompassing, everyone who came to him was blessed with that love.”

Seeking Purpose (29:30) – Krishna Das discusses the idea of having a purpose in life as an individual. Is there a big plan for each of us to fulfill?

“You have who you are, be that. Find out what that is. Find out who you are. That is your purpose, to be the best you that you can be, to become the best human being you can be, to become kind and compassionate. That is enough of a purpose, it can take you 15,000 lifetimes. Why not start now?”

Ego Check (41:30) – Sometimes we need a reality check to see how much progress in our spiritual journey we are really making. It is easy to fool ourselves into thinking we have dropped our attachments, but we are really just fooling ourselves. KD explores how reconnecting with our past can show us where we are really at now.

For more on the practice of chanting, check out this interview with Krishna Das.

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Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash