When starting spiritual life, we may expect different things. Some people expect to levitate; some, to see a mystical light, some, to acquire an aura.

However, such results are superficial to essential spiritual growth. The Bhagavad-gita’s sixth chapter outlines progressive stages of spiritual realization. Our mind becomes profoundly peaceful, being cleansed of agitating worldly desires (06.27). Successively, we perceive the great spiritual oneness that unifies all existence (06.28), the immanent supreme who exists in everything and in whom everything resides (06.29) and the transcendental omnipresent personal Absolute, knowing whom one never relapses into illusion (06.30).

Let’s analyze how this spiritual progression stills the mind and fills the soul:

Stills the mind: As long as the mind craves anything material outside of itself, it remains restless because those external things are prone to be lost anytime. But when the mind focuses on Krishna through bhakti-yoga practice, it realizes that he is the source of the supreme pleasure. This realization makes it materially still and serene as it becomes increasingly, joyfully absorbed in him.

Fills the soul: We all sometimes feel an inner emptiness, sensing that something is missing in our lives. To remove that emptiness, we try various things – filling our bellies with foods, our brains with facts, our showcases with awards, our bank accounts with notes, and our lives with cycles of feverish work and feverish entertainment. But none of these can remove the inner emptiness, for what is missing there is love, enduring spiritual love. Our soul longs for the Whole, all-attractive, all-loving Krishna, whose parts we are eternally. Metaphorically speaking, in our soul is a God-sized hole. Bhakti-yoga practice invokes Krishna’s presence, filling our very being with love and joy.

When we thus progress towards the supreme spiritual reality, with our mind stilled and the soul filled, we feel fulfilled – perennially, supremely fulfilled.

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