‘I am perfect’ – Who is this ‘I’ who is perfect? Every individual in this world believes he or she is most perfect self on this planet earth. We are so much given into believing that there is no one in the world who is as perfect as ‘myself’. We are always gloating in the belief of how flawless we are in everything that we do. What we fail to understand is that, there can be no perfect human being. This human body is the creation of Prakruti (Mother Nature) by mixing of material elements which is perishable. ‘The word ‘Perfect’ can be attributed only to the Lord Himself. The ‘I’ within us represents the individual ego or the lower self. What we fail to understand here is that only Krsna is the quintessence of the Perfect Divine Being in every sphere of life and this universe. Hence, Krsna is known as ‘The Uttama Pursha (Perfect Supreme Divine Person).
The reason being, as a human body we are created with innumerable defects. Our job is to continuously strive at perfecting every single thing that we do in our mundane life, be it going to work, reading a book, cooking, learning an art, or doing something new and should be performed with complete dedication and mindfulness. What this illustrates is, every time you are doing the same job you are continuously raising your bar of doing the same task much better in comparison to the last time. When you reach your set target, then you increase the goal to a higher level and strive hard to achieve this new limit. By this you are going towards the aspect called ‘Perfection’, which is Krsna Himself – the personification of a limitless ocean. Perfection is this limitless ocean whose depth or vastness can never be measured.
To further illustrate this, let me share with you a lesson imparted by my Guru. Being an independent, strong-willed individual, I believed that I knew too much about cooking. I was boasting to my Guru about how ‘perfect’ a cook I am, and that I can make the best dosas (rice pan cakes) and idlis (steamed savory cake). The very next day I made masala dosas for breakfast. To my astonishment the batter had not fermented well-enough for making crispy dosas. This was a big blow to my ego. I was trying to analyze what could have gone wrong. Looking at my frustration, he asked me, “In my life till then how many dosas had I made and how many times in a year had I ground the dosa batter?” I told him, it was (is) either once or twice a month. Then he said, only if I have made a minimum of 1000 dosas, can I claim that I know how to make it. It is only when you have practiced doing the same task over and over again for a several years and having attained the proficiency or mastery in that subject, you can then say, “I Know”. Even then this ‘I Know’ is a very dangerous characteristic which makes an individual become an arrogant and a crass human being, which is but imminent.
This lesson not only made me realize my folly and foolishness which I had committed out of my sheer ignorance. It became my first step in understanding the art of being a good student or a disciple and how to ‘Learn to learn’ in the prescribed manner. For the first time, I felt that in all my 38 years of life I have never learnt nor had I understood the art of learning under the tutelage of a Guru. For instance, the famous Chinese actor, Jackie Chan had not spent 35years with his Master undergoing a strict regimen in mastering the Chinese marital art called ‘Kung Fu’, he would have never become ‘Jackie Chan’. Similarly, in Kill Bill, without Pai Mei, Breatrix or Kiddo could never have learnt the secret art of the two finger technique which her Master had imparted to her. This covert import knowledge was taught to her only upon proving her worthiness by performing exemplarily under her master’s grueling methods of teaching.
Every individual boasts either about his/her knowledge, wealth, skill, beauty, power, prowess or whatever that they might believe which they possess. This is only from that individual’s perspective and his or her yard stick of measurement and judging either themselves or others in this world. My KrsnaGuru then told me to do an exercise of asking some my close friends or people who knew me quite well for a considerable period of time and to find out what exactly they thought about me or how they perceived me and what was their yard stick that they used for judging me.
This is when reality hit me hard. What I believe about myself is only from my ‘Minds’ point of view, which is the biggest culprit in making me an egotist and making me think that ‘I am the best thing that has ever happened in this world’. This mind of ours constantly judges and throws ideas which are distorted in reality. Hence, it is important to practice self-control of your mind and use it as a tool for learning and doing things, which is the sole purpose of your existence in this world. Beyond that you only need to listen to your Good Self which is the God inside of you or the Higher-Self. So please, kindly refrain from calling yourself a ‘Perfect’ individual. The less you do this the better it will be for your growth and it will help you channelize your mind in the right direction. Otherwise, this idea in your mind will only lead to your downfall from where there is no return. I would also like to emphasize on the fact that every individual is mere a tool in the hands of the Lord, while the ego in a person makes him/her believe that he/she is responsible for the success/failures in life. One needs to remember that, the Lord is the Marionettist who runs this entire creation. We are nothing other than marionettes in the hands of the Lord who makes us dance to his tunes alone.
To summarize, kindly do remove this concept or idea of thinking that you are the Perfect human being and do offer your mind, body and ego unto to the feet of the Lord. Give up the sense of doer ship and fruits of your actions.
