Some people are versatile. With their multifarious talents, they feel they can do whatever they put their mind on. Even if they can, their actions frequently bloat their ego, thereby sabotaging their quest for happiness.

However, when people are driven by the desire to show off, their pride makes them dependent on others for getting praised. And even if they are praised, their pride becomes like an insatiable fire, with praise acting like the fuel that causes the pride-fire to blaze even more and torment them with dissatisfaction even more. They end up not being able to do anything as they should – they can’t find happiness, whatever they do.

The Bhagavad-gita (16.14) outlines such a mentality when it declares that the ungodly exult in thinking that they are the best and in parading their greatness among assemblies of illustrious people. The next verse (16.15) underscores that they are deluded by illusion. The primary illusion is that they keep doing for attaining satisfaction the very thing that aggravates their dissatisfaction. Even if they achieve something special, the euphoria is short-lived and the craving for acclaim increases intolerably. And eventually when they age and their abilities start declining, they feel mortified, not knowing what they are living for.

Gita wisdom offers us a spiritual vision of life. Therein we see ourselves as souls; our talents as gifts from our source, the all-attractive Supreme Krishna; and our quest for satisfaction as best fulfilled by inner devotion and outer contribution as per our talents. Thus, we become guided to do things as we should, using our talents in a mood of devotional service.

When we are thus enriched spiritually, even if our talents are few or even if they wane with time, we can always find fulfillment through our Krishna-connection.

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