A Return to the Root

The effects of reductionism are prompting many people to reexplore the spiritual dimension. English novelist J.B, Priestly, for one, visited the Colorado River and observed how it had carved out the Grand Canyon. He said, "You feel when you are there that God gave the river its instructions."

Dr. Roszak asks, "Why, one wonders, should it be thought crude or rudimentary to find divinity brightly present in the world where others find only dead matter or an inferior order of being?"

In their textbook Psychology, Lindzey, Hall, and Thompson confirm, "All human cultures from the dawn of history have valued the mystical or religious experience. Man always seems to be searching for some higher form of consciousness or awareness." This statement returns us to the crux of the problem: twentieth century man has deviated from this search and is paying the price-alienation.

In the past, people solved alienation by experiencing what we might call "the divine presence," both within themselves and in the people and things around them. But simply wiping the dust off old catechisms and relearning their formulas by rote won't help us. The emphasis of numerous religious groups on memorizing doctrines rather than on experiencing God has only weakened people's convictions-and has helped (or even started) the process of alienation.

Despite its obvious shortcomings, modern science has taught us at least one thing: we should test a truth before we accept it. And thousands of years ago, sages and yogis had the same idea. They advised their students not to dwell in doctrines but to link themselves with the living world around them. By following the sages' directions for meditating on nature, the students experienced truth for themselves.

Appropriately, the handbook of spiritual education, the Bhagavad-gita, deals extensively with alienation and its cure. At the beginning, Arjuna suffers from intense alienation. "My mind is reeling.... Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of weakness.... I can find no means to drive away this grief which is drying up my senses." The Supreme Lord, Sri Krsna, instructs Arjuna on how to rediscover his ability to live in a meaningful, God-conscious way.

About halfway through the work, Arjuna asks, "How should I meditate on You? In what various forms are You to be contemplated, O Blessed Lord?" (Bg. 10.17). In reply, the Lord suggests ways to realize His presence in the happenings of this world. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada comments that since it is difficult to perceive God directly, "One is advised to concentrate the mind on physical things in order to see how Krsna [God] is manifested by physical representations."

This process is like appreciating an artist through his art. When we see a masterpiece, we naturally admire the talent and skill of its creator. The yogis and sages report that by looking upon the universe with this same sense of wonder, we can experience samadhi (blissful immersion in God consciousness), or what today's psychologists call a "peak experience." Alienation vanishes, and we feel reconnected to the root of existence-Krsna.

On the pages that follow, the reader will find some of Lord Krsna's suggestions, accompanied by short meditations-all in all, "enough to make you wonder." As Srila Prabhupada has remarked, by reawakening this sense of wonder "one becomes increasingly enlightened, and he enjoys life with a thrill, not only for some time, but at every moment."