Krishna living in Brindavan brought the spiritual teachings and the spiritual life to the people of that age so that simple people, cow herders, ordinary people, were able to open their hearts and their minds and experience divine love; experience the bliss of that infinite essence where the mind is stunned, no thoughts abide, and the light of the infinite shines within your being. Krishna conveyed this to the people. And that light that he brought into the world remained for ages and even to this day can be known, and those who sing the name of Lord Krishna feel his presence.
So, the great incarnations where the manifestation of divine presence has blessed the world in different cultures, in different places and different times have all served to remind people of that divine presence which becomes obscured to people in their day-to-day life. Those great souls having melted into the divine Lord of all beings embodied that infinite consciousness so that all those around might be reminded of their true nature; might remember the infinite nature of the eternal self.
Human beings immersed in their day to day activities in all the complexities of life and of relationships to different people, get lost in their problems, get lost in their need to accomplish, to acquire, in fulfilling their duties in the world. And so, the awareness becomes consumed with daily activities, with relationships to different people, with family, with friends, with work. And what happens? There is no time to remember your true nature, to remember your essential nature of your own being.
So when these great souls have walked the earth, they have brought that remembrance to people. For in their presence, ordinary people forget all of their troubles and woes, forget all of their duties and responsibilities and get lost in the sweet vibration of infinite love - the sweet vibration of divine presence. Being lost in that vibration, all the worldly engagements and concerns flow away. And so, those great souls have brought the remembrance of this to the world.
When you do your meditation, when you focus upon infinite being—the eternal self—when your awareness melts back into your eternal nature, then all of the worldly engagements and involvements and relationships fade from your attention. At least temporarily fade from your attention, and you remember, ah, this is who I am; ah, this is where I am at home.
And in that remembrance you move out of your bondage, your troubles, your woes, your attachments, your needs, and you move into love divine. In that moment when there are no thoughts but the heart is open, truth begins to emerge and you begin to feel that you are like the salt doll dropped in the ocean. You melt into that ocean and become one with it. You begin to feel that you are a part of the infinite waves of eternity. The existence which always has been, always will be - the eternal nature which abides in all beings. And recognizing that eternal nature, you realize you have always been and will always be free.
That which binds you, tears at your heart, causes you struggle of fear and loss, causes you struggle of attachment and need and wanting, that is all based on a false premise - the premise that you exist apart from everything else. That you are an isolated individual living in a body, in a form, and therefore you are vulnerable and you need, you attach, and you fear you will lose the ones that you love. You think that you will need to acquire love, need to acquire approval, need to acquire position, need to prove and secure yourself.
All of this comes because of one simple false assumption. That false assumption is that you are separate from everyone and everything else. That you are somehow different, apart. The reality of essence, of awareness, is that there is no separation. That which you call your self is the same aware intelligence that is in every other living being, that witnesses and experiences all of life - experiences the physical world, experiences the mental world, experiences the subtle world. That you are apart from the infinite Brahma, the one eternal essence, is the false assumption, the illusion that causes all of the other difficulties. This one assumption, this one belief is the source of suffering. All of the difficulties of human life come back to vidya, truth, and avidya, misunderstanding.
In ancient scriptures this became, when translated into English, the word sin, the misunderstanding of the nature of your own being. The misunderstanding of the nature of truth, the nature of the love that abides in you and around you in every living being. That is the source of your existence that lives in you and through you and through all beings, that suffers the light and the brightness of the sun and the darkness of the night; that abides in all experience in all life, acquiescent (?) peace, eternal being, the love of your heart. All those you love cannot be separated from you for they live in the love of your heart; they live in the unity of all life.
You are not alone. That force which guides the stars in the heavens guides you also. It is the essence of your own nature. Only when that essence, that Self of your self, the atman, is embodied in your form, the illusion comes that you are somehow separate, apart, and from that false assumption, the cascade of human experience flows out. So return. The meditation is to return, to return to your eternal essence, return to knowledge of your self, return to the source from which you have come. All the karma of the world cannot stop you when your heart is strong and your intention is there. You will find the stillness and the love and the truth that is at the core of your existence.