And the human form of life gives us an opportunity to achieve this. The human form of life is very, very rare. Again, we don’t see this, basically we are blind to the reality of life. Very rarely does the spirit soul get a human form.
Think of it. Go into the forest one day and just stand there, and look around, observe what you see. How many trees are there? Innumerable, you can’t count them. And then how many little bushes and shrubs and grasses are there? Even more. And how many insects? You can’t even see most of them. And then you consider all the other life forms, the birds and the animals, and then think about all the little microbes, the little bacteria and all those little tiny guys. They are all there and they are all people, just like you, there is no difference. You have been there before also but now you are in the human body. So here you are, one human surrounded by hundreds, thousands, millions of other people. And that is true everywhere on this planet.
The human form of life is very rare. When we get it, we should appreciate, “I have a very valuable jewel. Somehow or other I have a human birth which gives me the facility to realise this truth. I have an incredible brain, I have amazing mental abilities, I have an advanced intellect, I have a more uncovered consciousness, I can contemplate ‘who am I?’; I can contemplate the Absolute. And on and on it goes, the opportunity is boundless. But it is all designed for one purpose. Spiritual realisation.
But we have missed that point completely. And we use the form of life to increase our material pleasures. We have got so much facility to enjoy our bodily and mental facilities like never before. So that is what we have done with the gift – used it in the wrong way. It is not all about designing things for our pleasure, it is also designing weapons of destruction. We have got great facility to harm, maim, kill other people. We have cleverly designed nuclear power plants that can destroy our life on this planet. We have gotten out of harmony with God’s plan completely, and we pay the price. We pay a big price. Is it worth it? I assure you it is not.
So this Vedic knowledge is actually trying to turn us in a different direction, readjust our priorities, put what should be on the top in first place – spiritual life, spiritual activity, spiritual knowledge, spiritual realisation. If it is like that, then I will be immediately assisted by God Himself. Just like He gives us the food we need to keep the body alive, the water we need to drink, the air we need to breath. He provides for everybody. He has provided for all the animals to have their designated sustenance, same with the plants and the same with ourselves. But He has also provided for us, the humans, the knowledge to solve all these problems. So it is all here – all we have to do is just to follow it and become perfect. So the process of bhakti yoga is that system.