When we see something profound, what is the first thing that comes to mind? When we see somebody devoting his life to the well-being of the children on the street; when we see somebody giving away his life while saving an unknown person; when we see an astronaut walking on the Moon; when we see a scientist unravelling the secrets of the cosmos; when we see a movie like The Shawshank Redemption? What is the first reaction? Some feel "wow," and that's it. These people are great. They are different. Some feel "wow"; I wish I could have done that, too. That wish remains all through life. Some say What foolishness. Why did he die for an unknown person? What is there in walking on the Moon? What is there in wasting life looking for the stupid secrets of nature? Life is all about fun and pleasure.
How and when does that profundity evoke action? Why don't we get motivated to carry out our own experiments with truth after reading the book by Mahatma Gandhi, "My Experiments with Truth"? Probably for two reasons. First, we have other priorities. We want a comfortable life; we want to become rich; we want to achieve status in life; or we have some other priority like that. Second, we also want to carry out experiments with life, but we find ourselves incompetent. We visit mountains and see people paragliding. But because of our heavy weight or inflexible bodies, we find ourselves unable to explore.
I think we can easily overcome both hurdles. If we are determined, we can build our capacity. Similarly, when we see something profound, our priorities change. Maybe the problem lies somewhere else. What if we are unable to appreciate that profoundness? It's difficult to appreciate profoundness from a limited framework of life. Suppose Raavan learns that Rama was about to become the king of Ayodhya, and he left Ayodhya and his kingship for 14 years to respect his father's words. Would Raavan appreciate it? Could Duryodhana ever appreciate why a towering personality like Bhishma fought on his side? I think that's far beyond their capacity to appreciate.
When we don't appreciate that profoundness, many profound phenomena take place around us, and yet we remain completely oblivious. Krishna will show his Vishwaroop to Duryodhana, and yet he would run after the empire. We would become greedy for money and positions even after seeing what happened during COVID-19. I don't think a mind full of fear, ambition, or greed can ever appreciate profoundness. A mind in that state is so busy with its own targets that there is no time, energy, or space available to attend to that profoundness. It's like a profound movie being shown on the screen in a movie hall, and the child is busy eating popcorn and walking up and down the stairs. Because he can not appreciate what's going on the screen. I think we don't realise the hidden cost of the pursuit of pleasure. It feeds on our capacity to appreciate the profoundness, and we miss all the profoundness of life just to acquire a very cheap substitute called pleasure.
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