Home Sick or Sick of Home??
Home is our sacred space; a place where we can find comfort, security and happiness. In a deeper context, home is also within the heart wherein we find the soul and super-soul. The union of the two gives us peace and happiness. We must aim to reach that home of the heart, our true sacred space.
Most of us during our high school days probably felt that we couldn’t wait to be all grown up so that we could go off to college, as we were sick of being at home. Then, once in college away from mom’s cooking and having to do all the chores for a few years, we all felt a bit home sick. This duality exists, just like the duality of everything else in this material world.
At this moment in time we are all on some level of lock-down where we are stuck between the 4 walls of our home. We are not allowed to go to work, to the market, out to eat or to seek any other entertainment. We are restricted from going for walks or performing other forms of outdoor exercise. We cannot meet our friends and socialize. Many of us I’m sure, are sick of being at home! But are we really sick of being home or are our escapist tendencies being brought to light? We all have them, but how far we take this escapism is the question. With this escaping tendency comes the enjoying mentality, a deadly combination. Nothing satisfies us and we keep searching for more things to enjoy, enjoy, and enjoy. It’s okay to meet friends, but friends that lift us up to our sacred space not those who take us further away from it. This life will be over in a fleeting moment. No friends will be comforting us at that moment. In this COVID-19 situation people are dying and being buried without any family or friends by their side. Don’t get me wrong. Lord Krishna Himself says in Bg 6.17
yuktāhāra-vihārasya
yukta-ceṣṭasya karmasu
yukta-svapnāvabodhasya
yogo bhavati duḥkha-hāHe who is regulated in his habits of eating, sleeping, recreation and work can mitigate all material pains by practicing the yoga system.
As far as work is concerned, a Kṛṣṇa conscious person does not do anything which is not connected with Kṛṣṇa’s interest, and thus his work is always regulated and is untainted by sense gratification. Since there is no question of sense gratification, there is no material leisure for a person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And because he is regulated in all his work, speech, sleep, wakefulness and all other bodily activities, there is no material misery for him. Source
These days, due to social media and other influences (on and off the internet) people don’t like to sit at home (we like to escape). The financial freedom that comes with both spouses working gives the middle class affordability to eat out a few times a week. It allows them to go on vacations at least once a year, if not more. Nothing wrong in having some leisurely time to unwind, but the reason I chose to write about this is that I realized that our escapist and enjoying tendencies have become deep rooted and integral in modern society. The enjoying mentality causes us to be in the mode of passion constantly. The mode of passion basically means that whatever I see in my vision is for me to enjoy and manipulate. This tendency puts us in a very precarious situation. Not only for those pursuing a spiritual path but for everyone. This mentality puts personal enjoyment above the greater good, to an extent where one can justify killing others, destroying the environment, or taking advantage of other living entities.
A simple meal eaten out, we never stop to think where exactly is our food is coming from? A single piece of plastic used for our junk food delights, we never stop to think where this piece of plastic will end up? With a simple purchase of leather shoes, bags, and jackets, we never think twice where the leather came from? Which animal’s skin was sacrificed so I can look good? Or our fluffy pillows made of feathers, how many birds had to be skinned for those feathers? These seem to be all luxuries that are second nature to many, but they are non-essentials.
Now in this lock-down situation we are being forced to stay home (can’t escape) and shop only for essentials (limit enjoyment). Only essential services are open. What are those? Food, water, medical supplies, hospital services, police services, etc. These services are there to keep our body and soul intact. All the unnecessary shopping and roaming about, eating out, useless entertainment has stopped. The environment has drastically improved and mother nature is happy that humans are sitting indoors. We are being taught forcefully to be sattvic. To be humans. As humans, which are an evolved species, we have a responsibility to take care of all other species, but instead we are ruining and making other species suffer to the point of extinction. To be humans is to wash hands, wear fresh clothes daily after bathing, and eat fresh home cooked meals, cooked with love and offered with love to the Lord. Being grateful for waking up daily. Caring for others. Cleaning your living space and so many things that we are performing in this lock-down situation.
If we can stop for a moment and realize where our acts of passion are taking us we can start to learn to like this sattvic lifestyle. Sattvic means the mode of goodness. This goodness will not only lead to goodness of body and mind, but bring all living entities into harmony. We can coexist. It is possible. It is not a utopian fantasy. We must give up this enjoying mentality which makes us a real burden to the planet. We shall start to be home sick at the end of our work day. We shall look forward to a peaceful life in our sacred space called home. Living a more sattvic lifestyle we can advance further and experience enjoyment within. Nothing in this material world can give us that fulfillment or happiness. Lord Krishna has told us that this material world is dukhalayam, a place of misery. Then why are we trying to find that happiness outside in material things? There is none.
Its all within us at HOME.