Yesterday was the coldest day of my life and the coldest day in Iowa. The Artic wind from Canada blew its sweet way to Midwest USA. Where I live, it measured -13 degree Fahrenheit or in English it was -23 deg centigrade without factoring in the wind chill. The wind chill plummets the temperature still lower. It was very cold that the interior of my car wasn’t warm enough to keep my fingers and toes warm in spite of setting my heater on for 45 mins. I guess it is part of life where we have to endure the extreme weathers. I don’t remember where but in the scriptures it mentions somewhere that due to the onslaught of kali, we will experience immense heat, rain and cold in different parts of the world. The collective karma right now impels nature to react in such a fashion. We have no option but to tolerate the extremities of weather.
As Krishna says in the Gita, heat and cold, happiness and distress all are due to sensory perception towards nature. It also implies the duality of this world. One day it is warm and cozy and we are happy and one day it is wet and cold and we are sad. It depends on where we live. I remember once in Chennai, it was so hot around 42 deg centigrade (108 deg Fahrenheit) that I could barely walk for five minutes in the sun. So depending on which part of the world we live in, we feel happy or sad. This is material nature. Grass is always greener on the other side.
Krishna the knower of all advises Arjuna in the beginning of the Gita to tolerate the dualities of nature without being disturbed and with this frame of mind, Krishna sings the whole Gita to Arjuna. So the lesson we learn, the first step towards anything Krishna Conscious/spiritual is to tolerate and control our mind and senses and only then do we have any hope of pleasing the Lord.
mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya
śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ
āgamāpāyino 'nityās
tāḿs titikṣasva bhārata
BG ch 2 text 14
O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.
Hare Krishna
As Krishna says in the Gita, heat and cold, happiness and distress all are due to sensory perception towards nature. It also implies the duality of this world. One day it is warm and cozy and we are happy and one day it is wet and cold and we are sad. It depends on where we live. I remember once in Chennai, it was so hot around 42 deg centigrade (108 deg Fahrenheit) that I could barely walk for five minutes in the sun. So depending on which part of the world we live in, we feel happy or sad. This is material nature. Grass is always greener on the other side.
Krishna the knower of all advises Arjuna in the beginning of the Gita to tolerate the dualities of nature without being disturbed and with this frame of mind, Krishna sings the whole Gita to Arjuna. So the lesson we learn, the first step towards anything Krishna Conscious/spiritual is to tolerate and control our mind and senses and only then do we have any hope of pleasing the Lord.
mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya
śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ
āgamāpāyino 'nityās
tāḿs titikṣasva bhārata
BG ch 2 text 14
O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.
Hare Krishna
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