BBC Meditation 3
by Krsna Dharma Dasa
The author has been a regular British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) contributor since 1998. BBC Radio 2, where these meditations are aired, attracts from one million to eight million listeners, depending on the time of day. Thoughts from different contributors on topics assigned by the BBC are aired three or four times a day. This is the third in a series of eight meditations.
What Is Victory?
Over the years my idea of victory has changed somewhat. In my younger days, filled with the naive certainty of youth, I saw myself conquering the world, acquiring vast riches, fame, and all that sort of thing. That ambition has been rather tempered by reality, as it tends to be, but thankfully I no longer see world conquest as even a desirable victory.
How we see success depends of course on our values, and as a young man material achievements were high up on my list. This tends to be the paradigm instilled in us by modern living–earn more, have more, and find more happiness. Over the years, though, I’ve come to understand that having more things in this world –whether possessions, fame, or fortune–will never make me happy. Most people still think that having more things will make them happy, and our consumer society is built on that illusion. If we were satisfied with the phone or car or clothes or whatever it is we own, then many industries would pretty quickly dry up and die. But thankfully for them, most of us are not so easily contented. In the universal search for that bit more happiness, society appears to crave the latest, newest, and better model of everything, and business is booming.
But as I grow older, I’m beginning to question whether that makes me happy. Lao Tzu, a great Chinese philosopher, said, "He has the most who wants the least." In other words, he is saying that what we really want is contentment and peace of mind. We’re hoping that our acquisitions will somehow satisfy us and make us happy, but it never seems to happen. For this reason the Bhagavad-gita says that only one who subdues the ever-demanding senses can be peaceful, not one who strives always to satisfy them. It goes on to say that one whose mind is not controlled won’t be happy even owning the entire earth and all its wealth.
With the Bhagavad-gita's guidance, I now see victory as conquering my own material wants by turning them away from the things of this world and toward the spirit within. That to me would be the greatest possible victory.