The story goes that during World War I, German prisoners held by the Japanese, sang Beethoven's Ode to Joy, the Choral in the last part of the 9th Symphony, to help ward off the despair of their plight and revive hope of a better day.

The Japanese admired this strength of spirit, and adopted this musical classic as part of their own, end of the year holiday season tradition, in the same spirit of renewal and hope, performed yearly.

Translation (Partial)

A spark of fire from heaven, Daughter from Elysium, Drunk with fire we dare to enter, Holy One, inside your shrine. Your magic power binds together, What we by custom wrench apart, All men will emerge as brothers, Where you rest your gentle wings....
 

....Be embraced, all you millions, Share this kiss with all the world! Way above the stars, brothers, There must live a loving father. Do you kneel down low, you millions? Do you see your maker, world? Search for Him above the stars, Above the stars He must be living."

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and Holiday Season, from your SOS blogger.

Most human beings in our challenging and competitive world, seek the treasure of health and wealth on multiple levels.

However hitting pay dirt - totally satisfying body, mind, emotions and spirit is rarely achieved - just ask the richest people you know, or anyone.

Humankind generally exhibits an obsessive tendency and tenacity to secure gold in it's various manifestations such as wealth, power, prestige, and privilege - at almost any cost, including at the cost of one's own health and integrity in some cases, or at the cost of other people's lives or well-being in other cases.

Seeking satisfaction is not inherently wrong. Seeking happiness is actually a part of one's eternal constitution and fundamental purpose, provided it's consciously sought out with divine energetic grace rather than mundane exploitation.

But mostly due to lack of information or a constricted heart, one's gold-quest usually looks to material assets to hold and bodies to plunder for happiness, rather than mining the underlying gold strata of spiritual reality; a reality that is hidden from those not purposefully prospecting for it.

Seeking union (yoga) with supreme happiness, is the object and longing of many of us, and is well-expressed in poetry and music - whether one is seeking a mortal love, or eternal satisfaction.

"Golden...as I open my eyes, holding focus, hoping, take me back to the light.... Lovin' you's the antidote.. Golden..You're so Golden"

Transcendent gold is discoverable, by consciously re-connecting with the Source of all love and consciousness, through sacred sound manifesting in song/prayer/mantra/meditation.

Such a relationship with the Supreme Person is possible; a love affair which can transcend all time and space and satisfy the heart in a way like no other.

Fortunately, if one discovers a transcendent treasure map in the form of guidance from those who have successfully walked the trail, the path to success clearly opens up.

Information/guidance is found in different traditions, cultures and holy texts. One such text, the Bhagavad-Gita (The Song of God), describes each living entity as a spark eternal consciousness.

Consciousness is distinctly different from the mountains of minerals and chemical compounds that surround it. As such, mountains of gold, chemical infusions or palaces of marble can't provide lasting pleasure. Disconnected dull matter, is not the same stuff that consciousness is made of, or excessively needs.

When consciousness connects with the Source of all energy, both material and spiritual, a golden synergy is formed. How to become God/Source conscious, is revealed directly by Source within and without, and also through saints and holy texts.

Bhagavad Gita As It Is - Chapter 4 Texts 6,9,10, 11
TRANSLATION
Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all sentient beings, I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form.

TRANSLATION
One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.

TRANSLATION
Being freed from attachment, fear and anger, being fully absorbed in Me and taking refuge in Me, many, many persons in the past became purified by knowledge of Me—and thus they all attained transcendental love for Me.

TRANSLATION
All of them—as they surrender unto Me—I reward accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Pṛthā (Arjuna).

PURPORT - by AC Bhaktivedanta Swami

"Everyone is searching for Kṛṣṇa in the different aspects of His manifestations. Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is partially realized in His impersonal brahmajyoti effulgence and as the all-pervading Supersoul dwelling within everything, including the particles of atoms. But Kṛṣṇa is only fully realized by His pure devotees. Consequently, Kṛṣṇa is the object of everyone's realization, and thus anyone and everyone is satisfied according to one's desire to have Him. In the transcendental world also, Kṛṣṇa reciprocates with His pure devotees in the transcendental attitude, just as the devotee wants Him. One devotee may want Kṛṣṇa as supreme master, another as his personal friend, another as his son, and still another as his lover. Kṛṣṇa rewards all the devotees equally, according to their different intensities of love for Him...."

Here are some gold-themed songs for and perhaps by, musically inspired treasure-seekers.

Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight / The End.. by the Beatles
(more recently performed by Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins and more)

"Once there was a way, to get back home..
...Golden slumbers fill your eyes, smiles await you when you rise ..... 
......And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make."

The Supreme extends His hand through His own incarnations and sometimes through his various representatives, in different cultures throughout time, for those who wish to reclaim the treasure of re-linking with Godhead, and thus re-discovering one's own golden life.

More recently, Krishna descended again about 500 years ago and was known as "The Golden Avatar" named Sri Krishna Chaitanya.

Lord Chaitanya came to show and experience the unlimited bliss and ecstasy, of being totally connected to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as the goal of all yoga and religious practice.

Described as Bhakti-yoga or devotional service, Lord Chaitanya taught spiritual perfection through chanting/singing the holy names of God, and adopting a submissive loving and serving mood - the same mood personified and embodied by the divine feminine energy, Srimati Radharani, who captures Sri Krishna's heart.

More information about Radha, Krishna and Lord Chaitanya is presented in an archived post (on the right of this screen) from March 2018, entitled "An Ocean Of Mercy"

Here's another classic golden oldie..

"I've been to Hollywood, I've been to Redwood, I crossed the ocean for a heart of gold, I've been in my mind, it's such a fine line, that keeps me searchin' for a heart of gold.. and I'm gettin' old..."

PS
Found. One heart of gold.

His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada 1896-1977 who spread love of Godhead, Bhakti Yoga, all over the world, starting alone and practically penniless in New York City in 1965. He built a worldwide following and establishing 108 temple on six continents, plus published 70 volumes of Vedic Holy texts with English translations and commentary, from 1965 to 1977 at the age of 69 to 81. Truly a miracle man of a very different kind. His followers continue to expand his mission throughout the world.