Swami Prakashanand Saraswati, a revered spiritual teacher, explains the profound experience of a saint living in the material world. He shares insights into how a realized soul balances worldly life and divine love.
Question & Answer with Swami Prakashanand
Question: What does a Saint experience while living in the world?
Answer: Suppose a devotee has realized Krishn in his lifetime. He was seeing this world before when he was an ordinary devotee, as a world of attractions, enjoyment, people, relations, this and that, me and mine, all these divisions. Then he became a good devotee, then he became an evolved devotee. When he became an evolved devotee, he began to experience both: the closeness of Krishn’s presence, and worldly attractions but in a reduced stage. Suppose after that he became God realized. After God realization, one can only know after God realization.
Suppose there is a person who is blind by birth. He has not seen any kind of light or color or beauty in the world. If someone tries to explain to him how the light is enlightening, how the colors of flowers are charming and beautiful, he can’t explain it so that the sightless person can understand. He can never understand by any amount of words, phrases or examples – because both are entirely different.
A Saint still remains in the world, and behaves in the world like a normal person, yet simultaneously he remains absorbed in Krishn love. That you can understand. In his mind, he has Krishn. His mind is in Krishn love all the time. Through yogmaya power, the Saint does all his teachings, preaching’s, thinking, waking, all those things, yet he is with Krishn all the time.
Conclusion
Swami Prakashanand Saraswati succinctly explains that a Saint, even while living in the world, remains absorbed in the love of Krishn. Though they appear to function normally, a Saint’s mind is constantly immersed in divine love, unaffected by worldly attractions.