|
 In
his Avatâr as Krishna,
Bhagavân has said:
'Knowledge is
superior to Practice; Meditation is superior to
Knowledge; Superior to Meditation is Renunciation
of the Fruit of Action; From Renunciation arises
immediately Peace'.
Meditation
holds the Golden Key to the Glory of Renunciation
and the sacred Kingdom of ever-lasting Peace. This
Volume, 'Thought for the Day', is a powerful
instrument placed in our hands to facilitate our
entry into the domain of 'Meditation' that will
lead us to 'Divinity'.
Makara
Sankaranthi is a holy day because the day takes you
from darkness to increasing light. From today, the
sun enters upon the Uttarayana taking a northward
direction for six months. When your drishti
(sight) is on Braman and when you have Uttamaguna
it is Uttarayana, and when your drishti is
on prakriti it is dakshinayana. When
you have fever, the tongue will be bitter. The
bitter tongue is 'dhakshinayana'. When you
are healthy, your sweet tongue tastes well, it is
Uttarayana. The real Uttarayana is when you crave
for the thought of the Lord and the company of the
Godly. Bhîshma spent days in bed with pain,
as he felt death, when the sun starts towards north
is auspicious. Bhîshma yearned for the vision
of Krishna
in Uttarayana. Become fit for the vision of God,
cultivating prema in your heart, full of
fragrance and uncontaminated by the pests of greed
and egoism.
Here
are the three vows that
Krishna
had taken; they are mentioned in the Bhagavad
Gîtâ for all humanity to read, know and
believe: 'For the protection of the good and the
punishment of the bad, for the establishment of the
Moral I shall concretise Myself, age after age.
Whoever is wholly immersed in My contemplation,
with no other thought, I shall be ever with Him;
and I shall bear the burden of his welfare.
'Surrender unto Me, giving up all the other duties
and obligations. I shall liberate you from all sin;
do not grieve'. The armlets are reminders of these
tasks on which He is set.
The
Lord will be the Guide of whoever installs Him as
his Sarathi (charioteer). He will not
consider that position inferior. He is the
Sanathana Sarathi, come to be the Sarathi
of all. He is the Lord for all who seek a
Master, a support. The Atma is the Master
in every one; and Krishna
is the 'Universal Atma'
personified.
The
moment Krishna
was born, the chains that bound his father fell
off; the doors that had been bolted flew open; and
the prison guards were immersed in the ocean of
bliss, so that they could not recognise any event
or thing in the material world. The fire of hatred
that was burning in them was cooled; and darkness
gave place to the dawn of wisdom. The sky showered
raindrops to soften the earth and lay down dust.
How can the element operate against the Divine
Will?
Krishna
has three separate meanings - (1) the word Karsh is
one root from which the name is derived. It means,
that which attracts; Krishna
attracts hearts to Himself by His sportive
pastimes, miraculous victories over the forces of
evil, His charming conversation, His wisdom and His
personal beauty. (2) The word is also related to
the root, Krish: to cultivate, a field, for growing
crops. The word means, He who removes the weeds
from the heart of man and sows seeds of faith,
courage and joy. (3) It is related to the root
Krish, meaning something above and beyond the three
attributers and the three eras; and 'na' means
Sat-cit-ânanda.
Krishna
had taken three vows and the kankans were symbolic
of His determination to fulfill them. They were, as
mentioned by Him in the Gîtâ: (1)
'Dharmasamsthapanaya Sambhavaami Yuge Yuge'. (I
shall incarnate myself, in every age, to revive and
resurrect Dharma) - (2) 'Yogakshemam Vaham Yaham'
(I shall bear the burden of ensuring peace of
prosperity for all who rely on me) - (3)
'Mokshayishyami maa sucha' (I shall save all those
who surrender wholeheartedly to Me and I shall
liberate them from the cycle of birth and
death).
Krishna
dealt with the world as with a sitar, pulling its
heart-strings to arouse the melody of comradeship,
heroism, love, affection, compassion and
conviction. But, of these, the two emotions of love
and compassion were characteristically His and His
own. His breath was Love! His behavior was
Compassion! Adore Him, placing a garland of tears
around His neck; washing His feet with tears,
springing from joy at the contemplation of His
Love! That very worship will endow you with the
wisdom that sages seek and the bliss that the books
extol!
Detachment
is a plant of slow growth; if you pluck the tender
plant to look for the pods, you will be
disappointed. So too, long and constant practice
alone is rewarded by the peace that God offers.
Grace is acquired by surrender as
Krishna
has declared in the Gîtâ.
Krishna
does not speak of whoever among men who pronounces
the 'Pranava' at the moment of death, etc. The word
He uses 'whoever' is without any qualification of
sex. He does not say 'Whoever that is authorized'
or 'Whoever among the deserving'. The clear
intention of the Lord is to encourage women, as
well as men, to take up Pranava-Upasana
(aum-meditation). You would have seen that I do not
discourage anyone from the Upasana. It is the royal
road to spiritual victory which all are entitled to
use.
I
am in your heart all the time, whether you know it
or not. Draupadî called out for the Lord of
Dvârakâ, S'rî
Krishna,
when she was cruelly assaulted by the wicked
cousins of her husbands, and so the Lord responded
but after a little delay. He had to go to
Dvârakâ and come from there to
Hastinâpura where she was! He told her that
she could have received Him in the fraction of a
second had she called out, 'Oh Dweller in my
heart', for He dwells there as everywhere
else.
The
elders in Brindavan who reveled in scandalizing
Krishna
- successors have been born for them even now - set
an ordeal for Râdhâ to test her virtue.
She was given a mud pot with a hundred holes and
asked to bring water in that pot from the Yamuna to
her house! She was so full of
Krishna-consciousness
that she never knew the condition of the pot. She
immersed it in the river, as usual repeating the
name of Krishna
with every intake of the breath and every
exhalation. Every time the name
Krishna
was uttered, a hole was covered, so that by the
time the pot was full, it was whole. That was the
measure of her faith. Faith can affect even
inanimate objects.
In
Realty, Truth is God; Love is God; Dharma is God.
The Gopîs and Gopalas saw in
Krishna
the embodiment of truth, love and dharma. What He
said was Truth; what He was became Love, what He
did was Dharma. They were so immersed in
Krishna-consciousness
that they saw everywhere and in everything nothing
but Krishna.
Krishna
for them did not exist as a separate entity in the
home of Nanda; He was right in their own
consciousness, at all levels of it. These
Gopîs and Gopalas were true bhaktas
indeed.
Whatever
is dedicated and offered to God can never be lost.
People can gain enormous benefit by offering even a
little to God. 'A leaf or a flower, a fruit or a
little water' - that is enough, if offered with
devotion. Draupadî gave S'rî
Krishna
the fraction of a leaf sticking to the side of a
vessel and God granted her endless good fortune.
Kuchela gave a handful of parched rice and received
from the Lord awareness of His endless
Glory.
The
riches that you should strive to amass are not
fields, factories, bungalows or bank-balances but
the wisdom and experience of oneness with the
grandeur of the universe and the force that runs it
without a hitch. Arjuna is called Dhananjaya
by Krishna
because he had won (jaya) such dhanam
(riches) that saves man; and that cannot be taxed,
stolen or transferred. The method of winning these
riches is sadhana.
Give
joy to all. Prema or love is the means to achieve
this ideal. When love can bring even God nearer to
you, how can it fail where man is involved?
Krishna
could not be bound by any other means. That is the
reason why Sai
has
declared:
'start
the day with Love;
spend the day with Love,
fill the day with Love;
end the day with Love.
that is the way to God'.
Krishna
was known to all as Almighty, All-knowing,
All-encompassing, and All-fulfilling. Yet, the
enthusiasm to do Seva promoted Him to
approach Dharmarâja, the eldest of the
Pândava brothers, on the eve of the
magnificent Râjasûya
YajÒa [S'rîmad
Bhâgavatam, C10,
ch. 74]
that he had planned to perform and offered to take
up seva of any kind. He suggested that He
might be given the task of cleaning the dining-hall
after the guests had partaken of the feast!
Krishna
insisted on outer cleanliness and inner cleansing.
Clean clothes and clean minds are an ideal
combination.
During
the battle of Kurukshetra, which climaxed
the Mahâbhâratha story,
Krishna
served as the 'driver' of the chariot of Arjuna
throughout the day till dusk on the field and
caused the adjournment of the fight. He led the
horses to the river, gave them a refreshing bath
and applied healing balms to the wounds suffered by
them during the fierce fray. He mended the reins
and the harness and rendered the chariot
battle-worthy for another day. The Lord sets the
example for the devotees to follow. He teaches that
service done to any living being is offered to Him
and is accepted by Him most joyfully. Service
rendered to cattle, to beasts, and to men is
laudable sadhana.
Krishna
does say: 'whoever among men who pronounce the
Pranava [or Om(kâra) or AUM; primal
sound of God, identity of
Krishna
as a transcendental sound vibration] at the
moment of death', etc. The word he uses is
'whoever' without any qualification of sex. He does
not say 'whoever is authorized or whoever is among
the deserving'. The clear intention of the Lord is
to encourage women as well as men to take up
Pranava Upasana. You will see that I do not
discourage any one from the Upasana. It is
the royal road to spiritual victory which all are
entitled to use.
This
created Universe has two aspects, one is
impermanence (Anityam), the second one is
unhappiness (Askulham). In the
Gîtâ, [ch. 9-33]
Krishna
has said, 'Anityam Asukha Lokam Imam Prapy
Bhajaseva Maam'. Nothing in this World can give
happiness that is true and lasting. Mistaking the
World as 'All' and forgetting the Atman, which
alone is eternal and the only refuge, is the
greatest folly of man today. Man is pinning all his
hopes on slippery work and is madly running after
amassing and hoarding wealth. Of course, material
needs are to be taken care of but within limits and
not at the cost of spiritual values. Money and
mansions are not the only wealth. Hoard the wealth
of the Spirit. Character is wealth; good conduct is
wealth; and spiritual wisdom is wealth.
Workers
and peasants - that is the slogan nowadays. These
two classes were given their due share of social
importance and honor during the
Krishna Avatâr.
Now, people are honored even if they grow not food
but cash crops. Foreign exchange is what we are
after and so, people are encouraged to produce what
others can buy not what we need; such as milk and a
variety of milk products which are highly
nutritious foods. Balarâma, [see
for example SB,
10-68]
the elder brother and an Avatâr in his
own right, had as his weapon the plough. It
declared agriculture as a consecrated
occupation.
Egoism
is the most dangerous illusion that has to be
exploded and destroyed. Bhîma had it; but
when he could not lift and lay aside the tail of a
monkey, who was really Anjaneya himself,
that bubble was exploded. Arjuna had it one day
after the battle. When
Krishna
brought the chariot back to camp, he wanted that
Krishna
should get down first, like all charioteers; the
Master must get down later, after the Charioteer
opens the door for him.
Krishna
refused and insisted that Arjuna should alight
before He should. At last
Krishna
won. Arjuna got down and as soon as
Krishna
left His seat and touched the ground, the chariot
went up in flames. In fact, if
Krishna
had gotten down first, the various fire-arrows
which had the power of burning the chariot would
have hit the target; but due to the presence of
Krishna,
their igneous powers could not manifest themselves.
After knowing this, Arjuna was humbled and his
egoism had a powerful shock. He realized that every
action of Krishna
was full of significance.
It
is when you are in a desperate situation that you
call upon the Lord, forgetting your pride and your
egoism. The Pândavas were so full of misery
in a worldly sense that they always had an attitude
of prayer. If I had given you all the comforts and
opportunities, you would not have come to
Puttaparthi. Trouble is the bait with which the
fish is pulled out of the water. Kuntî
asked that Krishna
should continue giving her and her sons all kinds
of misery so that He may grant them His Grace
continuously [SB
1-8:25].
In
the Manasa-Sarovar (the deep, placid
mind-lake) of every man lurks a poisonous cobra
with six hoods: Lust, Anger, Greed, Attachment,
Pride and Hate, infesting the air and destroying
all who are near it. The Name of the Lord, when it
dives into the depths, forces it to come up to the
surface so that it may be destroyed. So, allow the
Divine in you - the Krishna,
Lord over the mind - trample on the hissing hood
and take out the vicious viper
[SB
10-16];
let it vomit the venom and become Sathvic
and sweet.
Like
all Avatârs, Krishna
announced His advent to the World bit by bit, step
by step, testing every time how far the Reality
will be accepted by the masses. The signs and
miracles were intended, then as now, to proclaim
the Avatâr.
The
One is comprehensive of all this. So, it has no
wants, no desires and no activity to realise
anything. S'rî
Krishna
tells Arjuna: 'Name Partha asthi Karthvyam, Thrishu
lokeshu Kinchava Partha'. (There is nothing I have
to do in any of the three Worlds). He has willed
the World as his sport. He has laid down that every
deed must have its consequence. He is the dispenser
of the consequences but he is not involved in the
deeds.
One
can also be rid of mâyâ if one
can discard the three gunas from one's
make-up. The 'sathyaguna' too has to be
transcended; why? The Gîtâ directs that
even the eagerness to be liberated is a bond.
One is fundamentally free. Bondage is only an
illusion. So, the desire to close the bond is
the result of ignorance.
Krishna
says, 'Arjuna, become free from the three
gunas'. In truth, the word 'guna'
means 'rope', for all three 'gunas' bind the
'jîva' with the rope of desire.
Liberation means liberation from delusive
attachment or 'moha'; 'Mohakshaya',
decline in the desire caused by attachment to
sensory pleasure.
Dhyana
is not mere sitting erect and being silent nor is
it the absence of any movement. It is the merging
of all your thoughts and feelings to God. Without
the mind becoming dissolved in God, dhyana
cannot succeed. The Gîtâ declares
genuine dhyana as: [BG
9:22]
ananyâs
cintayanto mâm
ye janâh paryupâsate
tesâm nityâbhiyuktânâm
yoga-ksemam vahâmy aham
[But
of those persons who concentrate on nothing else
but Me and who are fixed in devotion in proper
worship, I protect the union and to them I carry
what they need].
Krishna
has assured such persons that He would carry their
burden and be by their side, guiding and guarding
them. Persons adept in this dhyana are very
rare; most people go through the external exercises
only. So they are unable to win grace.
Life
is a song, sing it. That is what
Krishna
taught through His life. Arjuna heard that song in
the battlefield where tensions were at their
highest and when the fate of millions was to be
decided by the sword. Krishna
sang the Gîtâ for Arjuna to listen to.
Gîtâ means 'Song', and He sang because
He was 'Ananda' wherever He might be, in
Gokulam, on the banks of the Yamunâ or at
Kurukshetra between the warring armies.
Why
does He attract all to His Presence? To plough the
heart, prepare it for receiving the shower of
grace, to grow the seeds of Love, weed it of all
evil thoughts which smother the crops of joy and to
enable it to gather the harvest of wisdom. That
wisdom finds its fulfillment in
Krishna
Himself, for Krishna
also means the pure essence, the Supreme Principle,
the 'Sat-cit-ânanda'.
Where
there is dharma there
Krishna
is; so, think for yourself, each one of you, how
far have you deserved the Grace of the Lord? You
draw Him near; you keep Him far. You entangle
yourself, bind yourself, and get caught in the
trap. No one is your foe except yourself. No one
else is your friend. You are your only friend.
The Guru shows you the road and you have to trudge
alone, without fear or hesitation.
If
you ask Me, I will say that the
Gîtâ is like a balance: scales,
needle and all. The scale on the left is the 7th
sloka of the 2nd chapter, speaking of
'kârpanya
dosha'.
kârpanya-dosopahata-svabhâvah
prcchâmi tvâm
dharma-sammûdha-cetâh
yac chreyah syân niscitam brûhi tan
me
sisyas te 'ham sâdhi mâm tvâm
prapannam
[Being
afflicted by the characteristics of miserliness and
weakness,
I ask You, confused in the heart about my duty,
what would be all-good -
please tell me that in
confidence;
instruct me as I am surrendered to You
as Your disciple.]
The fulcrum is the
22nd sloka of the 9th chapter, beginning with
'ananyâs
cintayanto mâm';
ananyâs
cintayanto mâm
ye janâh paryupâsate
tesâm nityâbhiyuktânâm
yoga-ksemam vahâmy aham
[But
of those persons who concentrate on nothing else
but Me
and who are fixed in devotion in proper
worship,
I protect the union and to them I carry what they
need]
and the scale on
the right is sloka 66 in the 18th chapter, speaking
of 'sarva-dharmân
parityajya'.
sarva-dharmân
parityajya
mâm ekam saranam vraja
aham tvâm sarva-pâpebhyo
moksayisyâmi mâ sucah
[Go, leave the
variety of religions behind for surrendering to Me
only;
I will deliver you from all the consequences of
sin, don't worry!]
See how apt the
fulcrum sloka is. It speaks of single-minded
attention, 'steady, like the needle of a
well-adjusted balance'. Really, the
Gîtâ begins with two scales and a
fulcrum: the two armies of Righteousness and
Unrighteousness with Krishna,
the Teacher, in the middle.
Prakruthi
is dhara, earth and creation. Think of it always.
Long for it. Pine for dhara, dhara, dhara and you
find you are pining for Râdhâ,
Râdhâ. So, Râdhâ is the
Becoming and Krishna
is the Being; the desire of Being becomes the
longing of the Becoming for the Being - this is the
Râdhâ-Krishna
relationship, which has been sung by seers and
poets, calumniated and caricatured by ignorant
critics, appreciated and apprehended by aspirants,
and analyzed and realised by sincere scholars of
spiritual lore.
Welcome
all the blows of fate, all the misfortunes and
miseries, as gold welcomes the crucible, the hammer
and the anvil in order to get shaped into a jewel;
or as the cane welcomes the chopper, the crusher,
the boiler, the pan, the sprayer and the dryer, so
that its sweetness may be preserved and used as
sugar by all. The Pândavas never demurred
when disasters fell thick upon them. They were
happy that they helped them to remember
Krishna
and call upon Him. Bhîshma was in tears on
the arrow-bed, when he was about to pass away
[SB
1-9]
Arjuna asked Him 'why' and he replied, 'I am
shedding tears because the miseries undergone by
the Pândavas pass through my mind'. Then he
said, this is done in order to teach the
Kali-yuga a lesson; never to seek power,
position or pelf but to submit to the will of God
in a completely resigned way, so that you may be
ever happy and unmoved.
The
Individual is Arjuna, the universal which inspires
him is Krishna:
Led by the universal, the Individual has to oppose
the attractions and delusion of the manifested, the
maya, and the prakruthi, that is, the
Kaurava hordes. The battle depicted in the epic is
the inner battle, between the temporary and the
eternal, the particular and the universal, the
sensual and the super-sensual, the seen and the
seer. The Atma is described as a streak of
lightning in the blue cloud. It is a
Gîtâ (streak in Telugu). Discover the
Gîtâ, then the purpose of
Gîtâ study is fulfilled.
When
Krishna
leapt down from His chariot with the wheel-weapon
in His hand to slay Bhîshma,
[SB
1-9]
Arjuna jumped down with Him and holding both His
Feet he prayed 'Oh Lord, you have given word that
you will not wield any weapon. Let it not be said
that you broke your word to save me from
Bhîshma, I am prepared to die'. That was the
measure of his Bhakti. Bhîshma too had equal
Bhakti. He did not step forward to fight the new
challenge nor did he question the Lord. He stood
silent drinking in the charm of the Lord and
filling himself with the vision of the magnificence
of the Lord. That was the measure of the dedication
to His will.
Krishna
is slandered by ignorant, prejudice critics as
'jaara' and 'chora' and extolled by seekers and
sages with the same appellations, 'jaara' and
'chora'. He stole the hearts and the owners were
glad of it. He shed light, awakened people and made
those, whose hearts he stole, richer and happier.
He destroyed all craving for sensual pleasure and
sensual knowledge and filled the entire being with
thoughts of the Divine. How then can He be referred
to as 'jaara' and 'chora'? When the blind leads the
blind in this way, both have to fall into the
pit.
Krishna
was the Purushothama, Arjuna the
Narrothama; It was a friendship between the
embodiment of the highest and the embodiment of the
best. Krishna
was the avataric person. Arjuna was the anandic
person; it was a coming together of the
Avatramurti and the Anandamurti.
Arjuna was often addressed by
Krishna
as Kurunandana. This name has a deep
significance. 'Kuru' means 'act, activity, karma';
Nandana means 'happy, delighted'. Kurunandana
therefore means 'he who is delighted while engaged
in activity'. Throughout the eighteen chapters of
the Gîtâ, Arjuna is alert and active,
participating vigilantly in every turn of
argument.
Practice
the constant presence of God and, learn to offer
all your activities at the feet of the Lord as an
act of worship. Then they will be free from fault.
Krishna
advised Arjuna to enter the fight and, at the same
time, told him not to have 'hatred' towards
'enemies'. These may appear to be two
irreconcilable attitudes, for war is rage (passion,
attachment) and renunciation of hatred is
vairagya (absence of raga). Arjuna
asked Krishna
how he was to reconcile these two attitudes.
Krishna
said, 'mâm
anusmara yudhya ca'
[B.G.
8:7]
(keep Me ever in thy mind, and fight. Do not
cultivate the egotistic feeling that it is you who
is fighting. I am using you as My
instrument).
The
question on the battlefield was not who was the kin
of whom, but who was right and who was wrong; fight
for justice, fight for truth, fight for these as
akshatriyu is in duty bound, and leave the
result to the dispenser of all.
Krishna
told Arjuna: 'I am surprised that you should weep,
for you are Gudâkes'a
[B.G. 2:9],
the conqueror of sleep and ignorance. You do not
kill, so don't be so conceited; nor do they die.
They have many more things to do; and so they are
real deathless'. 'The sentence of death has been
already pronounced on their bodies by Me, and you
have but to carry out My Orders',
Krishna
said.
Krishna
felt that it was time to reveal His Truth and so He
just showed all creation in His Mouth when His
mother asked Him to show her His tongue
[S.B.
10:7],
when she suspected He had eaten sand. He made even
the longest rope too short to bind Him
[S.B.
10:9].
It became the talk of the place and every one felt
he had all the fourteen Worlds in Him!
Avatars choose the time and the mode of
announcement of Their advent and Their glory. Even
in this Avathara such miracles had to be
done when I decided that the time was opportune for
taking the people into My secret.
When
the righteous Pândavas were harassed by
wicked Kauravas, the beauteous
Krishna
appeared and saved them. The Lord can never design
violence and blood shed. Love is His instrument,
non-violence His message. He achieves the
correction of the evil-minded through education and
example. But it may be asked, why did Kurukshetra
happen? It was a surgical operation and therefore
cannot be described as an act of violence. The
Surgeon saves life through the beneficial use of
His Knife.
Consider
the Name Krishna
which the Avathar bore; what a significant Name!
Krishna
is derived from the root 'krish' which means (1) to
attract (2) to plough and cultivate and (3) the
Divine Principle beyond time, space and causation.
Krishna,
like all Avatars, attracts not only seekers, saints
and sages but the simple, the innocent and the
good. He draws also the curious, the critics, the
skeptics and those who suffer from atheism. He
draws them towards Himself by the irresistible
charm of His Person, by His invincible Look, His
Voice, His Flute, His counsel and His undaunted
Heroism! He is ever in a state of bliss, spreading
harmony, melody and beauty around Him; He sings
every where in the peaceful pasture lands of
Brindavan and in the blood soaked battle field of
Kurukshetra.
The
Gîtâ was Arjuna and
Krishna,
though Krishna
supplemented it with captious explanations of why
and wherefore. Arjuna admitted that he was a
prapanner. He had to surrender to His Wait,
so that there was no need for
Krishna
to argue with him. He was convinced of the
correctness of His command. Still, in order that
Arjuna might fight with a full heart, He gave him
the reasons which supported the course that He laid
down for him. I too want you to know why I designed
it so you should act in a particular manner, and I
do not like you to behave in another
manner.
Arjuna
exclaimed Krishna
as the Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Omniscient God,
when the foe was defeated day after day. But when
his son Abhimanyu was killed in the conflict
he raved in the grief that
Krishna
had not guided him properly and guarded him
efficiently. His mind wavered with every wind of
fortune. To many the mind is the master of the
intellect also. One must be vigilant and preserve
the impartiality of instrument called reason of
intellect. Clarify reason, then it will reveal God
everywhere, even in you once you accept God as the
core of the universe, and you have that strong and
steady faith.
Krishna,
whose advent you should celebrate, is not the
cowherd boy who charmed the village folk with His
flute, but Krishna
the indefinable inscrutable Divine Principle that
is born in the navel of the body (Mathurâ) as
the product of Divine Energy (Devakî) that is
then transported to the Mouth (Gokulam) and
fostered by the Tongue (Yas'odâ) as its
source of sweetness. Krishna
is the visualisation of the Atma that the
repetition of the name grants, the vision was
gained by Yas'odâ, you must foster that
Krishna
on your tongue. When He dances on it, the poison of
tongue will be ejected completely, without harming
anyone as happened when as a child He danced on the
hoods of the serpent Kâliya
[S.B.
10:16]
I
never deviate from truth. Since I recline on truth,
I am called Sathya Sai; Sayi (as
S'eshasayi) means reclining. The name is
very appropriate, let me assure you. It is only
those, who fail to follow My instructions and
deviate from the path I lay down, that fail to get
what I hold out before them. Follow My instructions
and become soldiers in My army; I will lead you on
to victory. When someone asks you in great
earnestness 'where the Lord is to be found', do not
try to dodge the question. Give them the answer
that rises up to your tongue from your heart.
Direct them. He is here in Prasanthi
Nilayam. All Avatâras teach, as
the first step in the long road of
'sadhana', the giving up of attachment. In
the Treta Yuga, the Yoga-Vasishthha
taught the same rule. In the Dvâpara
Yuga, Krishna
taught Arjuna to give up Vishaya-Vasana,
attachment to the objective world. People utter
with apparent faith, 'Krishna,
Krishna,
Krishna',
but they never give up 'thrishura' (thirst)
for worldly goods or fame. In each yuga, you have
the Avatâra of the Lord come to redeem,
review and rebuild. At the present time,
Mahâsakthi,
Mâyâsakthi, and
Yogasakthi have come all together in One
Human Form. Your endeavor should be to draw near
and earn grace therefrom.
Râma,
Krishna
and Sai Baba appear different because of the dress
each has donned, but it is the selfsame entity,
believe Me. Do not be misled into error and loss.
The time will soon come when this huge building or
even vaster ones will be too small for the
gatherings of those who are called to this place.
The sky itself will have to be the roof of the
Auditorium of the future. I will have to forego the
car and even the airplane when I move from place to
place, for the crowds pressing around them will be
too huge; I will have to move across the sky; yes
that too will happen, believe Me.
See
God in every being and then true 'sneha'
will blossom. This type of true 'sneha' can
come only when you follow the advice of
Krishna:
[B.G
12: 13-14]
advestâ
sarva-bhûtânâm
maitrah karuna eva ca
nirmamo nirahankârah
sama-duhkha-sukhah ksamî
santustah
satatam yogî
yatâtmâ drdha-niscayah
mayy arpita-mano-buddhir
yo mad-bhaktah sa me
priyah
"He who has no
trace of hatred towards any creature, who is
friendly and compassionate towards all, who is free
from the bondage of ' I ' and ' mine ', who takes
pain and pleasure as equally welcome and who is
forbearing in spite of provocation". Grow these
qualities in you, for they are the signs of true
'sneha'. It is only when you are proceeding
on the Godward journey along the nine stages of
Bhakti that you can attain this divine ideal
of true friendship.
 The
Râma and Krishna
Avatarâs performed the mission of restoring
dharma and fostering virtuous living,
besides punishing the wicked and teaching the world
that vice will not succeed. Man is an amalgam of
humanity, animality and divinity. It is a tragedy
if he cannot get rid of the animality; and it is a
greater tragedy if he cannot cultivate his
divinity. Contemplation of the Râma and
Krishna
Avatâras and their leelas and
mahimas [miracles] is the surest
method of cultivating the divine in man.
Nârada once
asked Krishna
the secret of the attraction His fluteplay had on
the cowherds of Vrindâvana. 'Do they run
to You or do You run to them?', he queried.
'Among us there is neither I nor they; how can a
picture be separated from the cloth on which it is
painted? I am imprinted on their hearts so
inseparably and so inextricably',
Krishna
replied. Have God imprinted on your hearts; be ever
so inextricably established in Him - that is My
message to you.
All
who come embodied are Avatâras, that is to
say, advents of the divine, manifestations of God.
What then is the special feature of Râma,
Krishna,
Buddha and Christ? Why do you celebrate their
birthdays with such reverential enthusiasm? The
specialty is this: they are aware; you are unaware
of the Atma which is the truth. Awareness
confers grace, glory, majesty, might and splendor.
Awareness confers liberation from bonds, time,
space and causation, and sleep, dream and
wakefulness. Avatâras are ever alert, aware
and alight.
Most
of the names of the divine have but two letters or
syllables; the significance of the number two,
Râma, Krishna,
Hara, Hari, Datta, Sakti, Kali etc., is that the
first syllable represents agni (fire
principle), which burns up accumulated demerit or
sin; and the second represents the amritha
principle, the restorative, refreshing and the
reformation force. The two processes are necessary
for the removal of obstructions and the
construction of the structure.
Remembering
the Lord by means of His name is enough to save
man. The Lord is 'Anandamaya'; He is also
'Ananda'. That 'Ananda' is to be
tasted through the name. It is
'Sat-cit-ânanda' [eternity,
consciousness, bliss, main qualities of
Krishna].
You may doubt whether such a small raft as
Râma, or Sai or Krishna
can take you across the boundless sea of
samsara. People cross vast oceans on a tiny
raft; they are able to walk through dark jungles
with a tiny lamp in their hands. The name or even
the pranava [primal sound of God, identity of
Krishna
as a transcendental sound vibration], which is
smaller, has vast potentialities. The raft need not
be as big as the sea!
Human
desire is illimitable and without end. It makes you
pursue the mirage in the desert; it makes you build
castles in the air; it breeds discontent and
despair once you succumb to it. But develop the
thirst for Krishna;
you discover the cool-spring of Ananda
within you. Krishna-nama
makes you very strong and steady; it is sweet and
sustaining.
Prayer
is the very breath of religion for it brings man
and God together and with every sigh nearer and
nearer. Dhyana is the process of listening to the
song celestial, the flute of
Krishna,
with the mental ears alert on the melody. Yoga is
the merging of the mind in the bliss of
self-forgetfulness when the music fills the
consciousness.
We
shall act ever as if we are in the presence of God,
as if God is watching and weighing every thought,
word and deed. See yourselves in all; See all in
yourselves; that is the road to lasting peace and
joy. Let us not seek the outer empire; let us
become the rulers of the inner empire. Let us not
try to defy the outer enemy, leaving the inner foe
to grow in striking power. We have
Krishna
with us, and so, who can defeat us? We shall win
through winning His grace.
When
Avatâras come, they choose the time and the
place, clan and the family, and they decide and
bring the comrades and the coworkers. When
Râma came, S'esha, Sankha, Chakra and other
inseparable adjuncts of the Lord also incarnated;
they also came down in order to taste the sweetness
of the Lord's company and service. Rohini, under
which Krishna
was born, is related to the attainment of yogic
success and the powers that flow from
it.
How
can darkness conquer or stand up to light?
Krishna
is 'Premaswarupa' [embodyment of
love] and He can be won over only by
'prema'. Audacity cannot approach Him.
Actors in films, however, correct their
accouterments (equipment) and intonation; they can
never be the real. Not even the biggest scientist
can understand Me by means of the categories to
which he is accustomed. I always smile at those who
deride Me and even those who praise Me. I am always
full of 'santhosh', [peace, contentment,
happiness] whatever may happen. Nothing can
come in the way of My smile. Derision and calumny
only tend to make it grow better and
happier.
Even
when divinity comes down as Avatâra,
man is unable to pierce the veil and revere the
divine. Lord Krishna
says that people are unable to recognise the
divinity that is He, because they deem Him to be
merely human. Only those who are aware of the
current within, the Atma, can identify the
source of power before them.
Some
of you claim to be Saibhaktas,
Râmabhaktas, and
Krishnabhaktas.
But unless you are perfect instruments in His hand,
you do not deserve that name. For example, Bharata
can call himself Râmabhakta. He lived with
Râma-Nama in every breath; he suffered as
much as Râma; he was as much as anchorite as
his brother; so, he too became Shyama
(dark-skinned) like Râma.
This
created Universe has two aspects. One is
impermanence (antiyam). The second one is
unhappiness (asutham). In the
Gîtâ,
Krishna
has said 'anityam asukham lokam imam
prâpya bhajasva mâm', [B.G.
9:33] nothing in this world can give happiness
that is, true and lasting happiness. Mistaking this
world as 'All' and forgetting the Atman, which
alone is eternal and is the only refuge, is the
greatest folly of man.
To
have faith you must dive deep into the inner
mystery of the Avatârs, like
Râma or Krishna,
and not lose your way in the tangle of the outer
events and emotional conflicts, the external
adventures and activities. Do not take
Râma as a brother, son and husband,
entangled in the personal calamity of having his
wife kidnapped and heroically rescuing her. You can
be moved into the adoration only by diving into the
cool depths of the inner mystery. This process was
specially discovered by the sages of the inner
mystery. It was specially discovered by the sages
of India, and so, India rose to the status of the
whole world.
When
a namavali extols S'iva, the next one
will have to be on Krishna,
the next on Râma and so on. A person
whose favorite form is Râma or
S'iva will feel neglected if, out of
inadvertence, you stick to only one form. Let the
atmosphere of Bhajan be free from
competitive conceit and fanaticism. This is My
advice.
The
saints and sages of India and even the incarnations
that God vouchsafed to take in this land, have
proclaimed and practiced the ideal of service to
fellow beings. Krishna
drove the chariot of Arjuna during fateful days
when the fortunes of the Pândavas
were decided at the point of the sword. Imagine the
Lord of the Universe holding the reigns of Arjuna's
horses. Note how Hanumân was elated
when he rose to the status of the servant of
Râma.
One
day, Anjaneya (Hanumân)
appeared in a garden on the outskirts of
Dvârakâ.
Krishna,
who heard about the pranks of the strange monkey,
directed Garuda to proceed and scare the
animal out of the city limits. Garuda
failed, even though he later took the entire army
with him for the fray. His pride was humbled.
Krishna
sent a message through him to the monkey, who had
declared himself as Anjaneya, that he should
deign to come to Krishna's
court. But Anjaneya, recognised only
Râma and would obey only
Râma. So Krishna
had to send another message that Râma
was calling him to His audience hall! Devotion
compels the Lord to yield to the whims of His
servants. Anjaneya hurried to see
Râma and Krishna
gave him the dharsan of Râma
Himself.
Dharma
purifies the mind and leads you to God. It creates
a taste for the name and form of God. When you love
the name and form of Krishna,
you will naturally respect and obey the command
(agna) of Krishna,
which is found in the Bhagavat
Gîtâ. Have the name on the tongue
and the form in the eye, and the demon called
aasa, unending desire, will fly from
your mind, leaving joy and content therein. This
kind of constant dwelling on the indwelling God
will promote love for all beings. You will then see
good in others and you will strive to do good to
others.
Namasmarana
is the process by which this dedicatory attitude
can be cultivated and confirmed. When confronted by
calamity, you must attach yourself to this
sadhana even more firmly, instead of losing
faith in it and getting slack. The drug should not
be given up when it is most needed. The pity is
that, when the first disappointment faces you, you
lose courage and confidence and give up
Râma or Krishna
or Sai Baba.
We
find individuals and groups trudging to Badrinath,
Kedarnath, and Haridwar in search of peace and
prosperity. They also go to Tirupathi and Kashi.
Have they jettisoned even a few of their animal
propensities? That is the test; that is the
justification for the money and time they have
spent and the troubles they have undergone. When
the animal is conquered and Godhead is felt within
reach, man can assert that all these pilgrimages
are within him. He has no need to travel from
temple to temple. And without achieving this
victory, you have no right to claim that you are a
devotee of Râma or
Krishna
or of another incarnation of the Lord.
Draupadî
moved into the tent and fell at the feet of
Bhîshma who blessed her spontaneously as
was his wont: 'May you have many years of married
life'. Draupadî revealed herself as
soon as she was blessed. She prayed that the
Pândava brothers, her husbands, may be
saved from arrows. Bhîshma guessed
that Krishna
must be the author of this stratagem. 'We are but
puppets in His hands', he said; and when he found
Krishna
at the entrance of the tent, he inquired what the
bundle contained. Imagine his dismay when he was
told that the Lord had condescended to carry under
His arms the sandals worn by His devotee. Have
faith in Him; He will never give you up; He will
guard and guide you until victory is won. Sincere
devotion and unshaken faith can never fail to earn
grace.
Carry
to every door the name of God and let the clouds be
illumined by love and reverence. Let every street
in the towns, every village in the state ring with
the adoration of the Almighty; every sunrise sing
of Râma, Eswara,
Sankara, and Krishna.
Any name is effective, provided it is suffused with
the divine essence. Love the branches, twigs,
leaves, flowers and fruits. They may appear to be
different in color, feel, taste, smell, etc. but
they all are products of the earth, drawing
sustenance from the soil and the sun. Live together
in love; live in peace; and live in
service.
While
speaking of God, who is guarding you, I am reminded
of a note that someone has sent Me from this
gathering. The note wants Me to explain why I have
not mentioned SAI BABA in any of my
discourses so far, though I bear the name as the
avatâr of SAI BABA. Evidently,
the writer of the note had in mind the people who
engage themselves in publicity work of
Râma, Krishna
or SAI BABA.
It
has been proclaimed that God is one, and that He is
known and can be known through various names and
forms. It has been declared that God is installed
in the heart of every being. Look at the emblem of
the Sathya Sai Organization. It tells you that the
Hindu, the Muslim, the Parsee, the Buddhist and the
Christian are all adoring the same God for the same
consummation. The mind of man has to be a garden of
many colored flowers, a Nandavanam.
Krishna
will certainly delight in dancing there and playing
on the enchanting flute in the bowers of the
garden.
Be
eager to confer consolation and courage; be anxious
to be of help. Watch for the chance. Snatch each
opportunity to expand yourself by sympathy, to
enlarge the horizon of love by understanding and
prayer. Do not keep another at arm's length, saying
'My God is different from yours or my God is
opposite to yours'. It can never be so.
Paramatma, the name for God, does not mean a
strange God but the Supreme God. Who can vouchsafe
for the correctness of the picture which you now
worship as the picture of Râma or
Krishna?
The poet described and the painter delineated, but
both rely on their imagination rather than on
actual authentic vision.
All
who come embodied are Avatârs, that is
to say, advents of the divine, manifestations of
God. What then is the special feature of
Râma, Krishna,
Buddha and Christ? Why do you celebrate their
birthdays with much reverential enthusiasm? The
specialty is this: they are Aware, you are
unaware of the atma which is the
Truth. Awareness confers liberation from bonds,
from time, space and causation and from sleep,
dream and wakefulness. Avatârs are
ever alert, aware, and alight.
The
Name undoubtedly brings in the grace of God.
Meerabai, the Queen of Rajasthan, gave up
status and riches, fortune and family and dedicated
herself to the adoration of the Lord, Giridhara
Gopala. Her husband brought a chalice of poison
and she was ordered to drink it. She uttered the
Name of Krishna
while she drank it. It was transformed into nectar,
by the grace the Name evoked.
Krishna
is hiding in the recesses of your hearts. You have
to trace Him there and hold fast. He runs away but
leaves footprints marked by the spilled milk on
which he has trodden in His hurry to be beyond our
reach. Yes, the lesson is: recognise his footprints
in everything of beauty, every act of goodness,
every tear of gratitude and every sigh of
compassion; and discover Him in the bower of your
own heart filled with the fragrance of love and
light of virtue.
At
school, the first lesson is 'Baa baa black sheep,
have you any wool?', and the second is 'Ding dong
bell, pussy in the well'. Gone are the days when
the first lesson was on Râma,
Krishna
or some great sage or saint? Getting to know about
black sheep will make children black sheep; getting
to know about the great and the good will make
children great and good. Children of Baba
Vihar are therefore told stories of Râma,
Krishna
and other divine persons. Learn those tales and
decide to live like them. Learn Indian ways and
Indian tales, and be true Indians.
Krishna
took upon Himself three vows:
(1)
paritrânâya
sâdhûnâm, vinâs'âya
ca dushkritâm,
dharma-samsthâpanârthâya,
sambhavâmi yuge yuge [BG
4:8] - 'For
the protection of the good and the punishment of
the bad; for the establishment of the Moral Order,
I shall concretise Myself, age after age'.
(2) ananyâs' cintayanto mâm,
ye janâh paryupâsate, teshâm
nityâbhiyuktânâm, yoga-kshemam
vahâmy aham [BG 9:22] -
'Whoever is wholly immersed in My contemplation,
with no other thought; I shall be ever with him and
I shall bear the burden of his welfare'.
(3) sarva-dharmân
parityajya, mâm ekam s'aranam vraja, aham
tvâm sarva-pâpebhyo,
mokshayishyâmi mâ s'ucah [BG
18:66] - 'Surrender
unto Me, giving up all other duties and
obligations, I shall liberate you from all sin; do
not grieve'.
How
can we find time for all this when we have to toil
every moment for feeding and clothing ourselves?
But you forget, the Lord will grant you these
material things and even immortality, if only you
place full reliance on Him. Whatever you do, have
the name, Râma or
Krishna,
or S'iva or Hari on your tongue, no
extra time or energy is needed for that. When you
rise in the morning, rise with the name on your
tongue and slide into sleep with the name on your
tongue.
One
day, Krishna
pretended to be fast asleep! With the flute
carelessly thrown aside by His side, when
Râdhâ approached the fortunate
flute and asked it in plaintive terms, 'Oh lucky
Murali! Tell me how did you earn the great good
fortune. What was the vow you observed, the vigil
you kept, the pilgrimage you accomplished'? The
flute got a voice through His Grace: 'I rid myself
of all sensual desire of envy, greed and ego, that
is all. I had no feeling of ego left to obstruct
the flow of His Prema through me to all
creation'.
Krishna
had undoubtedly the power to transform in a trice
the wayward mind of His kinsman into unillumined
instrument for resolute action. But
Krishna
did not use the power! He only prescribed the
medicine and the regimen. Arjuna had to swallow the
drug and follow the regimen himself in order to be
saved. He said, 'You are My friend; you are My
kinsman; you are now so near to Me that I am now
your charioteer; you are also in great distress; I
agree that the delusion, which has overpowered you,
must be removed quickly; but, your
ajÒâna must fall off through
your own efforts not through some miracle of My
design'.
We
are today celebrating the advent of
Krishna.
The Avatâr (incarnation) in the
Krishna-form
has a vast mystery enshrined in it.
Brindavan (the forest of Brinda or
Vrindâvana) is the tangled jungle of
life. The cows tended by Lord
Krishna
in Brindavan are none other than the humans
that are helpless without His care and guidance.
Gokula (the herds of cows) is the name given
in the Bhâgavatam
(book on the Glory of the Lord) to the region where
Krishna
tended the cows. 'Go' means also the
individual who is enclosed in the body. So,
Gokula, is the region inhabited by
man.
One
poet has sung, 'Oh, Krishna,
Oh, Gopala, do not count on your being kind
to me, being moved by my appeals for mercy. Don't I
know that you killed with your own hands your
maternal uncle (Kamsa)?
You killed the very nurse who came endearingly to
you in order to feed you at her breast
(Pûtanâ)!
With no iota of compassion towards the father of
your dearest devotees, you tortured him
(Hiranyakas'ipu)
and killed him
while the son, Prahlâda was looking on! You
approached Bali
as if for alms, and when he gladly placed all he
had at your feet, you trampled on his head and
pressed him into the nether regions! How can a
heart that has no tenderness melt at my misery'?
Yes, the Lord is above all attachments, He has no
favorites or foes.
Nothing
that is experienced will go to waste. It will shape
the course of events. It will change attitudes and
habits. It will purify and clarify situations and
outlooks. That is why I want you to read the
Gîtâ; it is like learning
eatha (swimming) - this learning of the
Gîtâ. Eatha saves you
from drowning. Gîtâ saves you
from drowning in the treacherous flood of worldly
desires. The Gîtâ is the real
purpose for which the Avatâr of
Krishna
was undertaken.
The
influence of the divine is such that while you are
contemplating it, all traces of envy and greed will
disappear from the mind. The boy
Krishna
had entered a gopî's house and was
just standing beneath the pot of curds when she
discovered Him. Krishna
ran out into the street and the gopî
pursued Him and wanted to catch Him quickly, for
she was so distressed that the boy was running in
the hot sun. She never worried about the loss of
curds or milk or butter, but the very thought of
Krishna's
tender feet walking over the hard stones in the sun
was something she could not bear. The prema
that Krishna
showered made everyone forget everything else. He
too gave such disarming replies to the queries of
the mother and the gopîs that no one
could have anything but prema towards Him.
That is the characteristic of Avatârs
at all times.
Dharma
is the very habiliment of India, the dress that
Bharatha-matha wears to protect her, honor
to reclaim her status to shelter herself against
heat and cold and to set a standard to her sisters.
When the wicked Kaurava princes seized hold
of the sarî
that Draupadî wore and tried to
inflict insult on her honor,
Krishna
rescued her and foiled the foul design.
Dharmarâja sat as if he was unaware of
his rights and duties. Bhîma was
involved in doubt concerning his obligations to his
elder brother and his consort. Arjuna cared
more for his own interests. Nakula and
Sahadeva waited and weighed the pros and
cons. But the Lord did not wait! His Grace knew no
delay or doubt.
Dharma,
the very clothes that Bharatha-matha has
worn since centuries, which is the expression of
her natural style, is now seized by wicked
irreverent hands. They wish to dress her in
unbecoming styles on their own initiative or
frenzied dictates. So Krishna
has to come again for resuming the eviction of the
wicked. Krishna
revealed the hollowness of the people who were
confident of their capacity to dishonor
Draupadî and the weakness of those
entrusted with the task of protecting her. Now too,
the Lord has to foil the attempts to undermine
Dharma and to stand in support of those who
are the traditional protectors and protagonists
of Dharma.
Yas'odâ
one day was searching for
Krishna
who had strayed away. She thought He went to the
house of Râdhâ.
Râdhâ just closed her eyes and
meditated on Krishna
for a while and when she called
'Krishna',
Krishna
was there. Then Yas'odâ shed tears of
joy. She said, 'I love
Krishna
as a mother. I have a sense of egoism in me that He
is my son and that I must save Him from harm and
seek to give Him guidance and protection. Your
prema is pure; it has no egoism promoting
it'.
Imagine
the prema of the gopîs. One
noon, Krishna
stealthily entered the house of a cowherd and drank
all the milk in the pot. The gopî
discovered Him and, when she admonished Him,
Krishna
took to His heels. When the gopî saw
Him running over the hard cobblestones of the
street, she shed tears of contrition. 'These lotus
feet must feel great pain', she wept. 'Oh, what a
great sinner I am', she wailed.
Krishna
will make the most wicked heart melt in repentance.
He is Premaswarupa and Santhaswarupa
and so He makes every heart sprout up to
prema and shanthi.
Vâsudevas-sarvamidam
does not mean that all this is just
Krishna,
the son of Vasudeva. It means that all this
is God, by whatever name He is known. So if you
decry anyone, you are decrying God, which is His
real core. If you become aware of the God in you
and the God in all else, there is nothing to equal
the peace and joy that you get.
 Do
not compare the various manifestations of the
divine and pronounce judgment, declaring that
Râma is greater than
Krishna
or S'iva superior to Vishnu. This
line of thought is poisonous and harmful to the
devout aspirant. You do not know your own self, but
yet, how dare you pronounce judgment on
personalities and powers you have never experienced
or understood. Râma is as unknown to
you as Christ and so it is best to keep
silent, and revere both with equal ardor. For all
are manifestations of the same divine
effulgence.
God, the eternal
absolute is pictured, praised and adored as
temporarily apparent and is adored in limited
regions as Râma,
Krishna,
Vishnu, Eswara, etc. These are not
basic fundamental expressions of His nature. These
are only forms assumed for certain purposes, like
conferring peace on earth, re-establishing the
norms of justice and strengthening the ideal of
faith in the supreme. The fixed and fundamental
attributes are Sathyam,
Jnanam,
Anantham
[meaning: 'O Absolute Eternal One! Thou art
Truth, Knowledge (wisdom) and Infinity'].
This is the swarupa of
Brahmam.
Sat-cit-ânanda:
eternity, consciousness, bliss. Main qualities of
Krishna
relating to the three levels of realization:
brahman,
paramâtmâ and bhagavân: the
impersonal spirit, the localized aspect, and His
complete. What counts in selfrealization is the
consecutive realization of the continuity of the
impersonal spirit, the consciousness of the local
aspect and the happiness of His opulence, His
Person. -
The qualities
of the spiritual and absolute form (vigraha) of the
Supreme Lord; but also of the original form of the
living beings, who so sure are part of His being. -
The qualities of spiritual existence on
itself.
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