The Bhagavad Gita by Eknath Easwaran

╭ chapter nine
true goal of their lives. True, they do enjoy heaven after death.
But when their store of merit is used up, they are born again
in order to have another chance at turning away from personal
gain and aiming at life’s supreme goal. So long as they
are motivated only by self-centered desires they must be born
again and again, and their spiritual evolution either stands
still or they make very little progress.
Even these souls, however, are really worshipping Krishna,
though they do not know it. They seek Krishna, the Supreme
Being, in all their wanderings through many, many lives and
even in their sojourns in heaven, where they enjoy the reward
of their good deeds. Because they do not know his real nature,
however, they will not attain the goal, but will be reborn.
An endless round of rebirths may seem like a living damnation
of the struggling soul – a harsh note that would be
uncharacteristic of the Gita. But this is not a question of damnation.
The purpose of life is to realize God, and until this
is done, the soul cannot escape creating more karma which
has to be worked out, however many lives it might take. The
choice to turn toward Self-realization is always open.
The Gita does not dwell on the obstacles, however, but
quickly goes on to reveal Krishna’s more compassionate
nature. It makes the point that whatever a person deeply
desires – whatever he or she worships – will eventually be
attained, in some life or other. In particular, to have real, selfless
love, regardless of the object, is to love Krishna, the ulti-
╭ 170