19. The Unique Treasures of
Mankind
It is said that during the Kurukshetra
battle which lasted for 18 days, Vyâsa had his mind torn
with contrition, for, the contestants were both of his lineage. So, he
could not cast his eyes on the fratricidal carnage! One day, he was so
overcome by remorse that he hastened beyond the blood-soaked plain,
where another day's holocaust was about to begin. Hurrying along, he
saw a spider scurrying forward on the ground! "Why so fast?" inquired
the sage; the spider ran off the road, climbed up an ant hill by its
side and from that eminence, it replied, "Know you not that the war
chariot of Arjuna is about to pass this way! If I am caught
under its wheels, I am done". Vyâsa laughed at this
reply, he said, "No eye gets wet when you die! The world suffers no
loss when you are killed! You leave no vacuum when you disappear".
The
spider was touched to the quick by this insult. It was shaking with
rage. It ejaculated, "How is that? You are a bloated sage! You feel
that if you die, it will be a great loss, whereas I will not be missed
at all. I too have a wife and children whom I love. I too have a home
and a store of food. I too cling to life with as much tenacity as you
folk. I have hunger, thirst, grief, pain, joy, delight and the agony of
separation from kith and kin. The world is as much in me and for me, as
in and for human beings and other."
Vyâsa hung
his head and moved on in silence, muttering the line, Saamaanyam
ethath pasubhir naraani; for man and beast and insect and worm,
these things are common, but, he told himself, "Inquiry into the
Ultimate, yearning for Beauty, Truth and Goodness, Awareness of the
underlying Unity, these attributes of Wisdom are the unique treasures
of mankind", and went his way.
20. Adi Sankara's Pithru
Bhakti brings Divine Grace
Sankara knew the real meaning of the Vedic
words "mathru devo bhava, pithru devo bhava - let the mother be your
god, let the father be your god". Once when his father left the
house, he told his son: "My dear son, I am daily worshipping God and
distributing naiveidya [offering eatables to the deity or idol;
prasâdam] to all the people. So also in my
absence and in the absence of your mother, you will please do like
that". Sankara promised too so without fail. He poured some milk in a
cup, put it before the Idol of the Goddess and prayed to her: "Mother!
Take this milk which I am offering". Though he prayed for a long time,
the mother did not take the milk, nor did she appear. He was very
disappointed.
He said again, "Mother! Mother! You are daily taking the offerings that
are given to you by my father. What sins have these hands of mine
committed that you are not accepting the offering which I am giving to
you?" He prayed to her earnestly from the innermost depths of his
heart. He prepared to sacrifice even his life and told himself, "My
father asked me to offer this milk to the goddess but I am not able to
do so because the goddess is not receiving the offering, which is made.
It is better that I die". He went out and brought a big stone to kill
himself. The Mother of the Universe is very compassionate and she was
very moved and touched by Sankara's sincerity. She at once appeared
before him and drank the milk that he offered. She drank the whole milk
and placed the empty cup before him. The boy was very glad that the
Mother of the Universe came and drank the milk but there was nothing in
the cup.
He thought that his
father would certainly ask for the naiveidya of the God after
his return. He feared that the father may thought that he drank away
all the milk and may be angry with him. Therefore he prayed to the
Goddess. "Goddess, give me at least one drop of milk so that I may be
able to give it to my father". But the goddess did not come. He again
sincerely continued to pray; the goddess was moved and she appeared.
Because she was not able to give the milk that she drank, she gave her
own milk and filled the cup. There is a belief that because Sankara
tasted the divine milk, he was able to attain the highest learning,
knowledge and wisdom that are ever possible. So the essence of the
grace of the goddess became the essence of learning of Sankara. In
order to please his father, he tried hard and was able to get the
Goddess of the Universe to manifest Herself before him. From this
story, we must learn to revere and obey the orders of our fathers
implicitly and sincerely.
21. The blanket of
Mâyâ and the bear
The Atma Tattwam is one and indivisible.
On
the
bank
of
a river, once a group of children were tending their
cows. It was the monsoon and all of a sudden a furious current of water
developed. Because it was a fast current, one bear, which slipped into
the water, was drawn into the midstream and was being carried away. One
of the boys looked at the floating mass, and from a distance, it
appeared to him to be a bundle of blankets floating in the water. He
said to his companion. "I shall jump into the water and get the blanket
out", and he jumped into the water. With the mistaken idea that it is a
bundle of blankets, the boy embraced with his hands the bear. Then the
bear also embraced him with its own hands. However much the boy tried
to extricate himself, the bear did not leave him. It held him fast. The
boys on the shore shouted: "Oh my dear companion, leave the bundle and
you come away." The boy in the water, struggling to escape, cried out:
"Though I want to escape from it, it does not allow me to escape."
So in this river of
life, mâyâ plays like the bear and we mistake it to
be a bundle of blankets. Hoping that it would offer us solace, comfort
and happiness, we jump into the river and try to catch it. At a later
stage when we want to extricate ourselves from it, we find it
impossible to do so. This illusion is created by mâyâ
but the divine principle is always one. Visistadvaita has been
teaching from time immemorial that though the forms are different,
there is only one Purusha, which
is
the
unity
in
the diversity and multiplicity of forms.
22. Tenali
Râmakrishna's Tanesha Bharatam
With a view to use the sacred story of the Pândavas
for some material purpose the Tanesha of Delhi once invited to
his court the eight renowned poets of Vijayanagara. These poets
were asked to describe the distinctiveness of the Mahâbhâratha.
They
did
so
in
a beautiful and attractive manner.
After hearing the story Tanesha wanted them to write a fresh epic in
which he would figure as Dharmarâja [Yudhishthhira]the eldest of the Pândavas,
all the ministers whom he liked would figure as the other Pândavas
and all his enemies would figure as the Kauravas. In other
words, he asked them to write a Tanesha Bharata(m). These poets
were not inclined to produce an epic of this kind and were discussing
among themselves as to how they could tackle the situation. Amongst
them a clever poet by name Tenali Râmakrishna came
forward and said that he would undertake preparing this book. He wanted
to teach a good lesson to the Tanesha.
The Tanesha then asked him to prepare the text in a week's time. The
week was coming to a close and Râmakrishna had not even started
writing and the other poets were afraid that the Tanesha would punish
them. By the end of the agreed period, Râmakrishna took a few
pieces of paper and went to the Tanesha who in turn had invited many
friends to listen to this great text. Tanesha asked Râmakrishna
if the Bharatam was completed. Râmakrishna told that it
was nearly complete but that there were one or two minor doubts, which
required clarification from the Tanesha. Then the Tanesha asked him
what these doubts were so he could clarify them. Râmakrishna
replied that he had some hesitation to raise these doubts in public and
he would wish to do so when both of them were alone. Tanesha and
Râmakrishna went inside and Râmakrishna said that he had a
doubt as to who would be fit in the role of Draupadî.
Since Draupadî was wife to all the five Pândavas,
the
person
in
this
role would have to be wife for the five Pândavas
in the story. This means that Tanesha's wife would be a wife to the
ministers as well. Râmakrishna asked Tanesha if he would agree to
give this role to his wife. Tanesha not at all liked this and he told
Râmakrishna that there was no need to write such a Bharatam and
asked him to clear out after giving him suitable gifts.
Thus we see here that the Tanesha wanted to have a reputation of the
Pândavas but he did not want to accept the sacred terms under
which the five Pândavas took Draupadî as their wife. Today,
if we want to establish the nobility of our culture, we should realize
and accept as a fact that the basis for it is respect for morality and
truth. We should follow the path of morality and truth. If we want to
have the reputation alone but not follow the path followed by our
ancestors, we will only be doing what the Tanesha wanted to do. This
will be leading an artificial life. We should not hanker after getting
a name and cheep popularity. We should look for the fulfillment of
life.
23. Sabari's Sâdhana
Sabari had a very tender, compassionate
heart. How she came to Mathanga rishi and stayed at his
hermitage is a very interesting story. Her parents arranged her
marriage, and as was the custom among the Adivasis a goat was to be
offered to the tribal goddess, on the night previous to the ceremony,
in order to win the grace for the couple. When Sabari came to know
about this slaughter, she wept, and fell at the feet of her parents,
praying them to save the goat. She asked, "How can our married life be
happy, when the dying bleat of this goat is the prologue?" But, the
father pushed her aside and proceeded with the cruel rite. That night,
Sabari stole out of the den of torture and hid herself in the depths of
the jungle that was not far off [see also RRV-3b & PV-24].
When day dawned,
Sabari's parents as well as the groom's party were plunged in grief and
anxiety; they combed the area, even amidst the thick bushes, but they
went back, saying among themselves, "she could not have gone to the
hermitage, for no woman would be given asylum there". Sabari heard
those words and so she concluded that the hermitage was the safest
place for her. She felt that some monk would take pity on her, and not
send her back. Mathanga rishi espied her and gave her
permission to be in his habitation. He told her that God in the form of
S'rî Râma was coming to the hermitage
some day, since He had been exiled into the forests for 14 years and He
is eager to save the monks and the seekers doing tapas in the
forests, from the ravage of the demonic enemies of peace! Râma,
he said, was proceeding from one region to another, with His consort
Sîtâ and His brother Lakshmana.
From that day Sabari had no other thoughts
than of Râma, no other desire than the desire to have the darshan
of Râma, the chance to touch His Feet and the opportunity to
speak with Him. Her heart was saturated with the Râmarasa,
the
sweetness
of
the
Râma principle. She had no other japam
or dhyana or spiritual exercise. She spent her time, preparing
for the visit of Râma to the hermitage; just as she cleaned the
paths, she cleaned her heart, too. Pebbles and thorns disappeared from
both through her efforts. She walked through the under growth and
removed overhanging creepers and briars, for she imagined Râma
would not have combed His hair and it might get caught. She broke the
lumps of earth, for she feared the tender soles of Sîtâ
would be hurt when she walked over them. She gathered fruits and tubers
from the jungle trees and plants and kept them by every day, for no one
knew when Râma would arrive! And she took no risks. She tasted
every fruit, whether it was bitter, sour or sweet, so that Râma
could eat the best. She smoothed the surface of all stones that lay by
the side of the tracks in the jungle for, she expected Râma,
Lakshmana or Sîtâ to sit upon one of them when they got
tired of walking. She hoped that one of them would rest awhile on one
of the rocks she polished with great care. Thus, her heart became Râma
Hridaya! (Lord Râma became the resident of Sabari's
heart).
Sabari was so immersed
in Râma that the ascetics lost all awareness of her sex;
they allowed her to remain in the hermitage, after Mathanga related to
them her high level of sâdhana. Mathanga left his body
and gave up his hermitage to Sabari, saying, you alone deserve to be
here when Râma arrives!
The sâdhana that
Sabari did to earn the bliss of serving Râma, you can do,
when you serve Sai Râma in the poor. By this service, you realize
the Self of Râma.
24. The World Conference of
Animals
Man is the noblest of all animals, the final
product of untold ages of progressive evolution; but he is not
consciously striving to live up to his heritage. The beasts held a
World Conference, to confabulate on the authenticity of man's claim to
be the acme of creation and the monarch of all that walks the earth.
The Lion presided over
the deliberation. The tiger questioned the claims of man; the leopard
seconded the resolution of emphatic protest. It made a devastating
speech, condemning man: "He is a standing disgrace to animals
everywhere. He manufactures and drinks merrily fatal poisons and is
proud of his utter foolishness. He cheats his own kind and spends all
his energies and resources in devising diabolic weapons to wipe out his
sisters and brothers; he prods horses and dogs to run in desperate
haste and gambles his earnings away, while they gallop along the track;
he is cruel, greedy, immortal, insatiable and unashamed. He sets a bad
example to the animal world. Though endowed with superior emotions and
intelligence, his behavior is disgusting and demeaning", he said. "We
do not know if and where we will get our next meal; we have no sure
place to rest. We have nothing to wrap round ourselves, except the
skin. But, yet the least of us is far worthier child of God than this
monster called man." He concluded.
The fox rose and added:
"We have a reason when we mate, but, man, I am ashamed to say, has
broken all regulations and cares for no restraint. He is a law unto
himself and a disaster to the rest".
The lion rose, to sum
up the arguments. He agreed with the general trend of the tirade
against man, provoked by his undeserved claim to supremacy. But, he
refused to tar all with the same brush. He distinguished between men
who are bestial and worse, and men who have transcended their bestial
past by the proper use of the special gifts of discrimination and
detachment. The latter, he said, ought to be received by all beasts as
masters, while the former deserved severe reprisals and condemnation.
25. Seek the point of view of
God
Four friends once started dealing in cotton.
They had a godown (warehouse) for the storage of the bales; finding
that the cottonseeds attracted rats to the godown, a cat was introduced
by them to scare the rodent throng. They tied jingles to her feet and
since they loved it much, the jingles were gold! Once, when the cat
jumped from the top of the bales, it started limping on one foot. So,
they applied some balm and tied a long strip of bandage round the
injured foot. The bandage got loose. And the cat, unaware of the long
narrow cloth that was trailing behind her, sat near the fireplace, and
when the cloth began to burn, she ran helter-skelter and fled into the
godown itself, where the entire stock of cotton was reduced to ashes in
a trice. The four friends had assigned to themselves each, one of the
feet of joint cat and the injured foot belonged to one of them; so the
other three charged him with the damages, which they claimed from him.
The matter went to the
court and after hearing arguments on both sides, the judge said: "The
injured leg has no responsibility, for it was taken into the godown
with the trail of fire by the three healthy feet. So, damages have to
be paid by the owners of the healthy feet to the owner of the limping
foot". What may thus appear correct at first sight might prove wrong on
second thoughts. There is a correctness from the wordly point of view
and a correctness from God's. Find out what the point of view of God
would be, by association with godly men; they can give you proper
advice. You must seek and not avoid good men.
26. Atma Thathwa is one and the same in all
There was a guru with a large number of
disciples and the guru was telling them some good things. One day, when
the lesson was going on, the teacher told the disciples that while they
are engaged in puja and meditation, no matter what obstacles come their
way, they must take care to see that their meditation is not disturbed.
The disciples had great faith in the guru. There were also some
disciples who were staying in the âs'ram itself. On a birthday of
the guru, one disciple decided to offer special prayers to the guru by
repeating the 108 names of the Lord. The disciple collected a
photograph, 108 flowers and wanted to perform the puja in the
traditional manner. One other disciple invited the guru and took him to
his house. The guru while going told this other disciple, who wanted to
do the worship at the âs'ram itself, to be careful and asked him
to keep the front door closed. The day was very hot and the guru
neither had slippers for his feet nor did he have sufficient hair on
his head to protect him from the sun. When the guru came to the
âs'ram and wanted the door to be opened, the disciple inside was
engaged in offering puja. The guru knocked at the door and asked the
disciple to open the door. The disciple replied that he was engaged in
puja and that the guru must wait till the puja was over, as the puja
was not to be interrupted. Today ninety-nine out of hundred people are
like the disciple. They only worship the photograph of the person whose
grace they long for, and continue to do so even when the latter is
knocking at the very door of the worshipper.
27. The one basis and different containers
When a
guru was sitting and teaching his disciples, one day he said: 'Guru
Brahma, S'ishya Brahma, Sarvam Brahma'. Thus the guru was implying
that everything in the universe was Brahman. Every day, one disciple
was accustomed to greet the guru respectfully on his arrival, but after
this particular event, he did not do so and he never got up from his
seat. The guru questioned him on this strange behavior and the disciple
replied that the previous day, the guru had said that everything was
Brahman and therefore there was no difference between them.
Then
the teacher felt that what he said came back to him as a boomerang and
he wanted to teach the student a good lesson. He went to the board and
wrote 'Guru Brahma' as two different words. He also wrote 'S'ishya
Brahma', and 'Sarvam Brahma'. When you look at theses three,
though Brahma is occurring as the same in all the three, the Guru,
S'ishya and Sarvam are different. Only when
these three words also become one, you can say that all are one. Thus,
until you are able to experience this oneness of all in practice, the
student will remain a student and a teacher will remain a teacher and
there is no escape from the need for the student having to respect the
teacher. The basis is one but the containers are different.
28. The right path to liberation
While
devoting
your
life
to
worldly pleasures and ideas, it is not possible
for you to realize God. There is a story of a king, who used to ask all
people who came to his kingdom, to tell him the correct path for
realization. Each one, basing himself either on some standard texts or
on what elders told him, used to say that a particular path was the
right one for liberation. While this was going on, a servant close to
the king was listening to the many descriptions that were being given
of the right path for liberation. He found that the king was listening
continuously to various methods of attaining moksha but he was
not putting any one of them into practice. With the intention of
teaching the king a good lesson, one day when the king was sitting and
talking to many people in the central hall, the servant came from
outside shouting loudly. The king then got up and asked the servant
what he was shouting about for. The servant replied with some anxiety
in his face that all the palace camels were climbing up to the top of
the terrace. The king asked how the camels could climb to the terrace.
The servant then said that if the king, steeped in luxury, can aspire
to climb up the path of spirituality and attain liberation and moksha,
there
need
be
no
surprise at the camels climbing to the terrace, and
then running off.
29. Every act of the Lord has a significance
Krishna
humbled
Arjuna's
pride
during
the war in an interesting manner. About
the end of the war, one evening, Arjuna felt proud that Krishna was his
charioteer and his 'servant'. He felt that as master, he should get
down from the chariot after Krishna and not before Him. So, that day he
insisted that Krishna should get down first. But, Krishna was adamant:
Arjuna must come down first, He said. After wasting a long time,
pleading and protesting and praying, Arjuna got down, very unwillingly,
swallowing his pride. Krishna then came down, and, immediately the
chariot went up in flames! Krishna explained the reason. The incendiary
arrows and missiles that had struck on the chariot were powerless so
long as He was on it; but, when His presence was no longer there, they
set the chariot on fire. Thus, Krishna showed that every act and word
of the Lord had significance and a purpose, which mortals cannot gauge.
Egoism is a tough enemy and it requires constant vigilance to conquer
it.
30. Hanumân's Devotion
After the
coronation, one day, Sîtâ and the three brothers of
Râma met and planned to exclude Hanumân from the seva of
Râma and wanted that all the various services for Râma
should be divided only among themselves. They felt that Hanumân
had enough chances already. So, they drew up a list, as exhaustive as
they could remember, of the services from dawn till dusk, down to the
smallest minutiae and assigned each item to one among themselves. They
presented the list of items and assignees to the Lord, while
Hanumân was present. Râma heard about the new procedure,
read the list and gave His approval, with a smile. He told
Hanumân that all the tasks had been assigned to others and that
he could now take rest. Hanumân prayed that the list might be
read and when it was done, he noticed a task of omission - the task of
'snapping fingers when one yawns'. Of course, being an emperor,
Râma should not be allowed to do it himself. It has to be done by
a servant, he pleaded. Râma agreed to allot that task to
Hanumân!
It was
a great piece of good luck for Hanumân, for it entailed
Hanumân's constant attendance on his Master, for how could anyone
predict when the yawn would come? And, he had to be ready with a snap,
as soon as the yawn was on! He could not be away for a minute nor could
he relax for a moment. You must be happy that the seva of the Lord
keeps you always in His presence and ever vigilant to carry out His
behests [see for example also: S.B.
5:19, & RRV:12a].
31. Karna, the great Giver
There is a fine
story about Karna. He was applying oil to his head, preliminary to his
bath, from a jeweled cup. Karna had taken the oil in his right hand and
rubbed it well into his hair, when Krishna appeared and Karna rose to
revere Him. He said He had come to demand the cup from him as a gift!
"I am surprised that You, the Master of the Universe, have a desire for
this paltry thing but who am I to ask you questions? Here is the cup, I
gift it to You", he said, and placed it in the Lord's right hand with
his left hand. Krishna took him to ask for that error in dharma,
offering
a
gift
with
the left hand. But Karna said, "Pardon me, o Lord!
My right hand is smeared with oil; I was afraid, that if I take time to
wash the hand and make it fit to give the cup, my wayward mind which
now had agreed to the gift, might discover some argument not to accede
to Your request; I might therefore be deprived of the unique fortune,
by the fickle mind with which I am burdened. This is the reason why I
acted immediately and passed it on to You, regardless of the breach of
a rule of etiquette; please sympathize with me and pardon me", Karna
pleaded. Karna knew that the mind is unsteady, but, as Krishna advised
Arjuna, detachment and discipline can tame it. [photo of Krishna and
Karna by radiosai.org]
32. Vairagya - The story of Mohajith
Bhakti and the attitude of saranagathi
(absolute self-surrender) that is its final fruit
will give you great courage to meet any emergency; such courage is what
is called vairagya. The story of Mohajith is a
good example of this highest type of vairagya. Mohajith, the
Prince, went to a sage in the forest and sought guidance in the
spiritual path. The sage asked him whether he had conquered moha as his name indicated. The
Prince said that not only he, but also every one in his kingdom had! So
the sage started to test the truth of this claim. He took the Prince's
robes, soaked them in blood and hastened to the palace gate with the
gruesome story of the murder of the Prince by some ruffians in the
jungle. The maid whom he met refused to hurry with the news to the
Royal apartments because she said. "He was born, he died; what is the
special urgency of this news that I should interrupt my regular routine
and run to the King and Queen?" When at last he got an audience and was
able to communicate the sad news to the father, he sat unruffled,
whispering to himself: "The bird flew off the tree on which it had
alighted to take rest." The Rani too was unmoved.
She
told the sage that this earth is a caravanserai, where men come and
stay for the night and when dawn breaks, one by one, they tramp their
different ways. Kith and kin are the words we use for the attachment to
the travelers cultivated in the caravanserai during the short term of
acquaintance. The wife of the "dead" Prince was also unaffected; she
said, "Husband and wife are like two pieces of wood drifting down a
flooded river; they float near each other for some time and when some
current comes between, they part; each must move on to the sea at its
own rate and its own time. There is no need to grieve over the parting
of the two; it is in the very nature of Nature that it should be so."
The sage was overjoyed to see this steady and sincere vairagya
in the rulers and the ruled. He came back to the forest and told the
Prince that while he was away, a hostile army had invaded his kingdom
and enslaved his subject. He took the news calmly and said, "All this
is a bubble, impermanent, flimsy. Let it go the way of the bubble.
Guide me to reach this Infinite, the Imperishable".
33. Never judge another's devotion
There
is
a
widely
prevalent
habit now of judging others and labeling them as bhaktas
(devotees) or nasthikas (atheists). What do you know, what can
you know of the inner working of another's mind? There was once a queen
who was a great devotee of Râma; she felt so sad that her
husband, the Raja, never even uttered the name of Râma and had no
bhakti. She had vowed that the first occasion, on
which she got evidence of his bhakti or at least respect for
Râma Nâma, she would conduct puja in all the
temples and feed the poor on a lavish scale. Then, one night, while
fast asleep, the Raja uttered the name of Râma thrice plaintively
and prayerfully. She heard the namasmarana and was happy at the
discovery of her husband's devotion to Râma; she ordered general
rejoicing throughout the kingdom and the feeding of the poor. The Raja
did not know the reason for the celebration for he was only told that
it was an order of the Rani, which the officers carried out. Similarly,
a husband may not be aware of the excellence of a wife's spiritual
attainments.
There
is the case of a couple who was proceeding through thick jungle on
pilgrimage to an inaccessible shrine. The husband saw on the footpath a
precious stone, shining brilliantly when the sun's rays fell upon it
from between the leaves. He hastily threw some sand over it with a
movement of his foot so that his wife may not be tempted to pick it up
and become a slave to the tinsel. The wife saw the gesture and chided
the husband for still retaining in his mind a distinction between sand
and diamond. For her, both were the same.
The
Raja who spoke in his sleep the sacred name of Râma felt very
sorry, according to the story, that he let Râma Nâma out of
his mouth, for he believed that no one should know of his 'love' for
Râma. There are many who will not shout about their guru
or their favorite nama and rûpa but, whether you
declare them to others or not, keep them ever in your consciousness.
Râma Nâma or any other name must be as constant as
breathing. For this, practice is essential.
A
person once told Dr. Johnson, the famous English thinker, that he could
seldom get time to recite the name of God, with the hundreds of things
he had to do from morning till nightfall and even far into the night.
Dr. Johnson replied whit another question. He asked how millions of
people found space to live upon the face of the earth, which is two
thirds water and the rest too full of mountains, deserts, forests, icy
regions, river-beds, marshes and similar impossible areas. The
questioner said that man somehow struggled to find living space. So
too, said Dr. Johnson, man must somehow find a few minutes a day for
prayer to the Lord.
34. God on your side - world in your hold
You may have accumulated riches, acquired
deep scholarship and achieved health and strength. But, unless you have
gained, in addition, a vision of the supreme sovereign, and an
aspiration to be ever in the ecstasy of that vision, all that has been
garnered by you is mere lumber. India has a great epic, the Mahâbhâratha,
which
describes
a
war
between the Kauravas and Pândavas. The
Kauravas had superior financial and military resources. They approached
Krishna, the Incarnation of the Lord, for help; but they were content
to receive from Him a large army and a huge quantity of hardware. The
Pândavas sought from Him only His grace! The Lord agreed, He came
over to their side, alone and unarmed! He held just a whip and drove
the horses of Arjuna's chariot! That was all, but that was all that was
needed for victory. The Kauravas were defeated to the uttermost; the
Pândavas won the empire and eternal fame.
If God is on your side,
you have the world in your hold. This is the lesson driven home by the
Hindu scriptures. "Give up all bonds of right and duty; surrender
unreservedly to Me! I shall guard you from sin and liberate you from
that sad cycle of 'entrances' and 'exits' on the stage of life. You can
remain ever in your own reality of eternal calm", the Lord has
assured. [see also Bhagavad Gîtâ, ch. 7 & ch. 18]
35. Dharmaraja's grief over Karna's death
Karna, the eldest born of the
Pândavas, did not know that he was the brother of the other five.
Nor did the five brothers know this fact. As a consequence of this
ignorance, Karna was saturated with hatred towards the five; he longed
to destroy them; he prepared himself for battle against them, with
unabated vigor. The younger brothers too, planned to destroy him and
behaved towards him as if he were their deadly enemy. When Dharmaraja,
the eldest of the five, came to know - after the death of Karna, which
they effected successfully - that Karna was his brother, his agony knew
no bounds; he was struck disconsolate and was torn by despair. If only
he had known the truth, all that grief could have been avoided isn't
it? So, too, until you know that all are altars where the same God is
installed, all are moved and motivated by the grace of the self-same
God, you are afflicted by hate and pride; once you know it and
experience it, you are full of love and reverence to all. The barbarous
remedy of war will be given up when this basic brotherhood is felt in
the deepest core of man.
36. Krishna is the visualization of the
Âtmâ
The Krishna whose advent you should
celebrate, is not the cowherd boy who charmed the village folk with His
flute, but, the Krishna, the indefinable, inscrutable, divine
principle that is born in the navel of the body (Mathurâ)
as the product of the 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 visualization of the âtmâ
that the repetition of the name grants; the vision that was gained by
Yas'odâ. You must foster that Krishna on your tongue; when he
dances on it the poison of the tongue will be rejected completely,
without harming any one, as happened when as a child He danced on the
hoods of the serpent Kâliya.
Yas'odâ traces
Krishna to the place He hides in, by the footprints He leaves, when He
has broken the curdpot, which she was churning. This is a symbolic
story to illustrate how the Lord breaks our identification with the
body and leads us on to Himself, by signs and signals that He provides
all-round us. These signs are ever present in the nature around each
one of us, in the beauty of the rising sun, the ecstasy of the rainbow,
the melody of the birds, the lotus- spangled surface of lakes, the
silence of snow-crowned peaks - in fact, since god is rasa,
sweetness, ecstasy, all nature, which is but Himself in action, is
sweet and ecstatic. With or without form, it is ananda. Welcome
it into the heart as Râma - He who is joy and grants joy,
or as Krishna - He who draws you by means of the joy He imparts
- and, live all your moments with it, offering your dhyana,
your puja, your japa. That will open the doors of
jñâna and of liberation. This is the mark of the wise,
while those who are otherwise wander in the wilderness, filling their
moments with meaningless trifles, toys and gew-gaws.
Purusha: the male principle; the
Absolute Truth in its original form (mahâ-purusha). The lord as
the purusha assumed the original form of the material world with her
sixteen principles of material action (S.B. 1.3:1).
- The original person, the incorporeal godhead.
- (as cause and effect), The mind, the elements, false ego, the guna's,
the senses, the Universal form or appearance (virath-rûpa) with
the moving and nonmoving living entities and the complete independence
all together.
- The living being, the person as the enjoyer.
- Krishna as the Supreme Enjoyer.
- Vishnu as the first avatâra (purusha-avatâra).
Yudhishthhira: the
eldest of the Pândava-brothers who after the great war of
Mahâbhârata ascended the throne as the victor.
Vairagya: detachment.
Bhakti: devotion, devotional
service to Lord Krishna, love of God.
Moha: delusion caused by false
identification, infatuation.
Painting of Lakshmî by Johannes Ptok
