When the life of an ordinary individual is spent in fulfilling desires, there is no chance for one to search for questions such as the cause of one’s existence, the identity of oneself, etc. The wait to satisfy the desires that queue up endlessly adds to the stress and strain in one’s lifetime. When the aim shifts to the search for the meaning of life, one enters the spiritual stage of seeking Adyatma knowledge, the real jnana that can liberate one from the bond of samsara, pointed out Swami Sashishikananda in a discourse. In other words, seeking God leads to realisation. When one analyses the case of Dhruva, it is clear that the boy seeks God to get his wish, to sit on the lap of his father, fulfilled. But once he has the vision of God, Dhruva is no longer enamoured of his original wish though God grants it. He has experienced the bliss of God’s presence, a rare achievement for a small boy, one that even sages steeped in meditation find hard to achieve.
Dhruva regrets that instead of seeking Moksha or liberation from the Supreme Lord who alone can grant it, he had frittered his effort on trivialities. Each one traverses through stages of realisation, from an extrovert mindset where the external world takes full control of our mind and entire being, towards an inner experience of the self within. Many of our aims centre on earning wealth, possessions, fame, scholarship, etc. One has to transcend these and aim for the highest pursuit, salvation. The two levels of consciousness, the lower and the higher, are governed by ignorance, Avidya, and knowledge, vidya, respectively. God’s intervention is necessary for the soul to pierce the ignorance and get into the presence of the Supreme Self. Remaining in ignorance ties one to the cycle of birth; and knowledge leads one to freedom from this cycle.