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Doubts and Clarifications
(The questions were
posed during the Gita Yatra)
DOUBT: Can not the Gita be written in one page and published? It will be useful to many. (This question was raised by a Pracharak of
RSS.) The same question was asked in a
different tone. How is the Gita useful
to the common man?
CLARIFICATION: I
am reminded of an anecdote in a talk by a Jain Sadhu. A youth came to a Sadhu and said in a
complaining tone. “You say the texts are
for everyone. The deaf can not listen to
your lecture. The blind can not read
your texts. The lame can not even come
to your lecture. How can all these
benefit from your texts?” The Sadhu
picked up a stck and hit the youth on his head.
The youth cried in pain and shouted, “Why do you hit me?” “Oh!
So you are not dumb”, said the Sadhu and further said, “Come near
me”. The youth came nearer. “So you are not even lame. I was wrong in my assumption”. “Why do you beat around the bush? Can you not answer my question directly? We need social consciousness. How are you and your lectures going to be
beneficial to the deprived masses?” The
youth was passionate. “My dear boy! Leave others.
Think about yourself. You are
neither deaf, dumb, blind or lame nor are you deprived. How has this been beneficial to you? What are your efforts to benefit from these
texts?” The sadhu replied.
Does our work end with
writing a brief version, getting it printed with some sponsor’s money and
distributing the same house to house?
This may be sufficient in a political work. The mere expectation from the people is to
come and attend a public meeting once and go to the polling station, also just
once. A pamphlet ia OK for this, not for
an idea. If an idea has to captivate me,
if it has to cause refinement of my thought process, if my life is to be
transformed by that idea, a desire, rather a thirst in me is essential. Consistent effort by me is essential. A pamphlet distribution or a lecture or a CD
is just not enough.
This is the problem with
many involved in social and political activity.
When they see a crowd or a talented person or a popular programme, they tend to think on ‘how
to utilise this so that I reach the public, quicker’. A mother once attended my Gita lecture. She approached me after the lecture and said,
“Has your talk been recorded? I forgot
to bring my recorder. I want my son to
listen to this lecture.” “Did you not
listen?” “I could not listen
properly. My mind was on my son. Please give me a recording if some one has
recorded. I’ll make him listen to it
tonoght and return it tomorrow.” “If you
had listened with attention, you could have told him everything. “He won’t listen to me.” She sighed as she replied. Pitiable!
DOUBT: I have read the Gita so many times. I do not seem to have been benefitted.
CLARIFICATION: Why
did you read? What did you seek in
it? It is futile, if you read without
knowing what you want. Just for
fun; just for time pass; just to know what is there in the Gita; just to test whether the Gita is useful to
me: just to satisfy ‘ego’; just because others in my group are reading
and I will be left out if I do not; Shallower
books can be read with these considerations.
Gita or any other book of deeper study has to be read with
Shraddha. Anything that has been read
should be pondered over. The book must
be read again to clarify the thought.
(Listening can be more effective than reading.) Analyse own actions in the light of own
understanding. Reading any number of
times, without Shraddha is futile.
DOUBT: I am a Shiva devotee.
Many Krishna Bhakti organizations claim tha Shri Krishna is the only
Complete God and other gods are mere demigods.
Is it right?
CLARIFICATION: Kindly
check your thought process. ‘Shiva is my
God. These fellows are projecting some
other God, Krishna, as greater. Mine
should be greater.’ Is your question based
on such a thought. Krishna or Shiva is
not the matter. You matter more. Check your status.
Please check the status
of your Shraddha. If it is firm and
unshakeable in worship of Shiva, you should not be perturbed by comments of
someone on the road.
Check whether you have
jealousy in you. When one sees a grand
function, it is jealousy to feel that, ‘this did not happen to me’. Similarly, on seeing rousing reception to
Shri Krishna’s worship, world over, on seeing massive turn outs in colourful
functions being organized by the Krishna Bhakti organization, there is a chance
that ‘jealousy’ sprang up in your heart and this question is born out of
that. Check to see there is not an iota
of jealousy.
The first and foremost
condition of devotion is total, unshakeable and deep faith in the Object of
your devotion; the faith that, ‘He is
the One’; faith which stops you from
looking here and there and worry about what others say; faith that keeps the mind totally focussed on
the object of devotion without getting distracted. Expressions like ‘All are same, Everything,
ultimately, is One’ are OK for speeches.
In worship or other spiritual practise performed for elevating self,
firm conviction that ‘this is the only One’ is essential.
Anyone who preaches a
particular form of God, will talk in superlative terms about that form. He will say that his God is the
greatest. Every Purana talks in these
terms. It is wrong, if they say
worshippers of other forms will be doomed or thrown into a permanent hell, as
the Christians or Muslims do. To regard
other ways of worship as inferior and to seek to convert them to one’s own way,
is not a spiritual or religious activity.
That is mere power politics.
Politics is concerned with numbers.
An idea or a religious philosophy is not.
DOUBT: Worship of Nirguna-Niraakaara Paramaatman or worship of a
form, which is better?
CLARIFICATION: Similar
question rose in Arjuna’s mind as well.
‘Which type of devoteee is greater, he asks in the twelfth chapter. Your question is about devotion. If you are seeking the type of worship most
suited to your temperament, this quetion is unnecessary. It will naturally evolve from your practises,
even if you are practising a system not suited to you. Yes.
There is one thing you can do. Do
not be concerned about ‘wish to achieve favourable’ or ‘worry to get rid of
unfavourable’. He will take care of the
rest.
DOUBT: I like the one who does not bother me with demands or
complaints. Is it (Shri Krishna’s liking
for Gyaani) not an ordinary human trait?
CLARIFICATION: A
sadhu was once walking along the fields to reach the next village. He squatted near the fence to ease
himself. That was a field of
pumpkins. The owner of the field gave a
harsh blow on the Sadhu’s head, thinking him to be the stealer of
pumpkins. The Sadhu got up chanting
‘Krishna, Krishna’. The gardener
realized that he was a Sadhu and felt remorseful for his act. “Please forgive me. I have committed worst sin. I thought you were a thief. Please say you fogave me.” The gardener pleaded. “You never hit me, a Sadhu. You hit the thief. Who am I to forgive?” The gardener was not convinced and wanted to
compensate for his folly. He took the
Sadhu to the hospital and dressed his wound.
Then, he took him to his house and offered fruits and milk to him. “You are astonishing. You give blows and then you also give milk
and fruits. Your actions are
funny.” The Sadhu murmured. The gardener was worried as he thought the
Sadhu might expose him to the villagers. “I did not hit you”, he feebly retorted. “I know pretty well. Who else, but you can. You hit me.
Now, it is the same You, who are giving fruits and milk.” He was talking the language of ‘Vasudeva
sarvam’, ‘You are everything’. The poor
gardener could not grasp it and thought, ‘Sadhu was talking to me’. Who will not like such a personality as the
Sadhu. It is not the Paramaatman having
an ordinary human trait. He loves the
Gyaani. As we too have Divine traits in
us, we also like such personalities.
DOUBT: Death seems a
mystery, is it not?
CLARIFICATION: Is
death the only mystery? There are so
many things beyond our comprehension.
Are there planets bearing life, beyond our solar system? How long and widespread is the Universe? What is there deep inside and at the bottom
of oceans? Where is the need to go out
searching for mysterie? Do we know
everything about ou own bodies? Is there
no mystery in its functioning? We do not
know about the so many organs and their functions. The brain is so mysterious both in structure
and functioning that we may need a whole life time and yet not know. In fact, any field in science is worth a life
time to study.
There are logical reaons
for death being mysterious. I’ll like to
mention two of these. 1. We can never experience death. It is still more difficult to know post-death
experience. We may see others dying and
infer from the experiences in their last days on the last day. Some, who were declared dead, but revived
after a few minutes, have written their experience in those few minutes. We may read and listen to those
experiences. We can only know that the
incident called death has occured, but never know how and what after. All these can only be indirect and never a
direct, personal experience. 2. The other reason is the deep rooted fear we
harbour for death. We refuse to think,
discuss and research death. Discussion
on death is considered inauspicious. We
may try to avoid, but it is always lurking at the back of our minds. That is the reason for high-pitched
excitement caused by huge deaths during natural calamities. Miss S came to meet her sister, a cancer
patient. “It will not happen that
way. Do not fear”, she said to patient’s
husband, with an intent to console.
“What is that which will not happen?”, asked the husband. She was terrified and the conversation came
to an end.
Once fear is thrown out,
it becomes very easy to understand death.
DOUBT: Why is there the
fear of death? How is it to be removed?
CLARIFICATION: Sat
or Being is the basic trait of Paramaatman.
That is also our trait as we are a drop of Him. We bind ourselves with the body regarding the
world as real and the body as ‘Me’. We
desire Sat status or eternal status for this considered ‘Me’, the body, which
we very well know is impossible. Hence,
we conclude that ‘I will perish’ with death.
Death is the ‘monster’ which is going to finish me.’ Naturally, death is fearful.
What is the way to eradicate this
fear? The basic reason for the fear has
to be identified and then follow the principle to ‘Reverse
Engineering’. The idea that
‘I am body’, attachment with body, the idea that ‘I will be happy through the
interaction between the body and the worldly objects are the reasons for this
fear and gradual realisation that death is for the body and not for me is the
way to conquer it. The eyes should be
wide open. The seen experience should be
pondered over. Viveka or discretion
should be put to optimum use. Fear is
sure to be rooted out if the effort is continuous.
I had a habit during my school
days. That was helpful to me in so many
ways. Whenever I was disturbed by a fear
or confusion, I used to ask myself a question.
“What will happen?
What worse can happen? What can
be the worst scenerio?”
I’ll try to prepare myself for the worst. The fear confuion will vanish. Anything better than the worst will not be
strong to disturb. Never allow your
thinking process to rust. Fear, confusion
etc. try to numb your thinking process.
Continue with introspection. The
answer is within yourself.
DOUBT: Are the rituals
performed after death, necessary?
CLARIFICATION: We
perform two types of rituals, one for the dead body and the other for the
subtle body of the departed.
The body is cremated, buried or
drawn into a flowing river. We thus help
the body in disintegration into basic elements and merger of respective
elements into ‘Mahatattva’ or their respective sources. Earth merges with earth, air with air, water
with water, heat with heat and space with space. Today’s Iran before forceful conversion to
Islam, was Persia and followed Zoroastrian faith. Arbic invaders attacked, butchered a few
hundred thousands and the whole population converted to Islam. A few thousands refused to convert and escaped to
Bharat. They are the small Parsi
community living with honur here. Their
religion advocates feeding the vultures with the dead body. Now a days, there is a trend to donate some
organs to patients or the whole body for medical research. Recently Shri Nanaji Deshmukh of RSS and Shri
Jyothi Basu of the Communist Party had willed their bodiws to medical
institutions. The body is bound to
decompose in a few days, even if we do not perform any rites.
The other is ritual for the subtle body.
Is it for the departed? The
departed life is already on its path towards its own destination, according to
his deeds when alive. These rites may or
not be needed for the life departed. It
is definitely necessary for us. The ten
or fifteen days period of rituals immediately after death acts as an interface,
to gradually bring back the close relatives to normalcy. These are the days offering one an
opportunity to introspect on death and transform self to a better person. We express our own attitude while performing
these rituals.
DOUBT: When I read any
single verse in the Gita, it seems to be within my grasp. But, I do not understand the essence whenI
read the whole Gita. Please guide.
CLARIFICATION: The Gita
is not a text to be memorised. It is not
a book of prayers, with Mantras and shlokams in praise of God. It is also not University text book to be
studied for a Doctorate. There is no use
in memorizing, or daily reading or understanding the Gita. Then, what and why is Gita? It is
a referrance book. It is a life-guide. We need to look at our life in the light of
gita. We can gauge our mind using the
Litmus called Gita. Choose any shlokam
of the Gita, read and grasp it and then, this is very important, subject
yourself to simple experiments on the basis of the thought expressed in that
shlokam. The effort may seem to be
simple, but will prove to be very effective.
You need not discuss these with anyone.
Talk with the Gita. Do not be in
haste. Proceed as though you have your
whole life for these. Many ‘learned’
persons refer to the Gita as a Book for the Hindus, like Bible and Quran are
for the Christians and the Muslims. They
are merely exhibiting there ignorance by sayng this. Those books are Prayer Books for those
religionists. Gita is not that. It has Divinity attached as the verses have
come from the Lips of Shri Krishna.
Once, I asked Shri Jayendra Saraswati, if a Yagyam could be performed
reciting the Gita verses. He said, ‘the
Gita is not Mantra nor is it a Prayer book.
You may conduct Gita Pooja or Shri Krishna Pooja but not Yagya’. As often suggested by Shri Krishna to Arjuna,
the Gita is meant to transform us into a Yogi.
It is a manual with suggestions for efforts in that direction. A manual is always useful only to the persons
in that specific field. And, no one
memorizes a manual.
There is no point in studying
the Gita to understand it. Understanding
of all the students of Gita will not be the same. It will vary according to our levels. The Gita has come to elevate us. Gita need not be understood. Let us understand our own lives. Let us try to understand our ‘self’. May Gita be used in that direction. Not only the Hindus, but Christians, Muslims
and any one may benefit by experimenting on the thoughts therein. Why Gita?
Human life is precious. Even Gods
have to be born in this world as humans, to attain oneness with the
Paramaatman. May this precious human
birth not be lost. May there be
experiments in life. Sparks of Truth
will glow within. If the Gita is opened
then, the same sparks of Truth wiil be found there.
DOUBT: Is memorizing
unnecessary?
CLARIFICATION: Of
course, all the benefits of memorizing will be accrued. Samskrit accent will improve. The tongue habituated to Samskrit develops
clearer pronunciation. Memory power
improves. Samskrit literature deals on the
Divine and hence its study purifies the mind.
The texts memorized in student days, if studied and understood in later
phase of life will guide in solving complex situations arising in life. All these are true, sure enough. But, the Gita intends to transform a man into
a Yogee. Gita proposes to guide man in
the direction of Paramaatman. Memorizing
will not help in this.
DOUBT: Shri Krishna says,
‘women also can attain Paramaatman’.
Is attaining Him so difficult for women?
Are women inferior births?
CLARIFICATION: This is
an incident in Mira’s life. Mira reaches
Brindavan. A She went to an ashram of a great
Vaishnava saint. But, she was denied
permission to enter the ashram as the saint had vowed never to see a
woman. “I have been thinking till date
that Shri Krishna is the only Purusha and all the Jeeva are Females, aspiring
to unite with Him. I did not know there
is one more Purusha, other than Shri Krishna.
It is really surprising!” exclaimed Mira. The doors of the ashrama opened instantly and
the saint came out to recieve Mira. This
is the idea expressed in our spiritual texts.
Science also corroborates
this idea in a different way. ‘Mascule
and feminine are relative concepts’ according to science. There are two types of harmones which cause
masculine or feminine attitudes. There
is none who is 100% male or female. All
of us are mixes of both the attitudes.
Mix of feminine attitude in males and vice versa is the rule. We call those with predominant male attitude
as ‘males’ and theothers with predominant feminine attitude as ‘females’. The male is generally known to be assertive
and active. Female is commonly
passive. Patience, fortitude, tolerance
etc. are feminine attitudes. Action,
initiative, impatience are male ones.
There are, of course, exceptions.
The ones who wait with fortitude also reach Me, says Shri Krishna. There is no gender differentiation for Him.
According to scriptures,
a female is never alone. She is with the
father, brother, husband or son. There
are no rituals or worships prescribed for her.
She needs only to be present in the ritualistic practise and she gains
equal punya as the performer. The
husband is forbidden to perform any ritual, Dana, Tapas Pooja or Yagya, without
the wife. Shri Krishna’s suggestion is
that woman, who has no spiritual obligations from the texts, will also reach me
if she surrenders unto Me.
The second part of your
question is a nonsense. We are all born
to a female. If you remember this, such
a question will not arise in you. The
Gods reside only where the woman is respected and worshipped. This is the declaration of our Rshis.
DOUBT: ‘Be Positive’ is the
Mantra repeated by many. ‘See good, do
not see evil’, they sugget. Gita says,
‘See God in everything’. Are these two
suggestions not contradictory?
CLARIFICATION: These two are two
different levels. Man in one level will
find it difficult to understand the one in other level. Most of those who repeat the mantra ‘Be
positive’ tend to be weak-minded. The
dare not face the ‘negatives’. They
realize the presence of ‘negativity’.
Negatives stare on their faces.
But, they lack the courage to face and hence want to turn away. It is only to hide their fear, they repeat
the mantra ‘Be positive’, like the one walking on a pitch dark road resorts to
loud singing or whistling only to suppress fear. ‘I am not alone’ seems to be the suggestion
behind his singing or whistling. He needs
this only because the fearful fact that ‘You are all alone’ stares at him with
full glare. One who knows and accepts
that he is alone and does not have any fear, neither sings or whistles nor does
he need any ‘auto-suggestion’.
One of my friends had
taught his child to say ‘Jay Shivaji’ everytime he falls. This was appreciated by many. It is one thing to fill up the mind with the
thoughts and inspiration of Shivaji all time.
It is entirely different to call Shivaji and arouse ‘bravery’ at the
time of a fall or defeat or pain. It is
one thing to build a strong body and a tough mind through continuous effort and
another to suppress and push pain and anguish deep inside by slogan
shouting. This may be needed in the
beginning as a diversion tactic. More
useful tactic would be to instil inspiring thoughts of Shivaji through his life
stories, pictures and by creating suitable environment in the family. Is there a real desire to bring up the child
with Shivaji as the role model? Or, the
child’s howling is irritating and hence such a tactic is resorted to. We make every effort to avoid a fall. There are efforts to avoid bruises in case of
a rare fall. There are further efforts
to hide pain if there is a bruise or wound.
We bring up the child weaker than a feather. If there is howling inspite of all our
efforts, then we resort to such auto-suggestive slogan shouting.
To deny the negative is
lowly. To accept that fall, pain,
anguish etc. are inseparable parts of life, is better than denying anguish or
avoiding pain and refusing to face a fall.
Once you accept these, you try to find ways to face these. That is the real positive attitude.
Positive-Negative,
good-bad, comfort-pain, fall-rise, laughter-wailing etc. are undeniable parts
of life. To regard both in these pairs
is ordinary. When we know both exist, we
distinguish and differentiate the opposites in these pairs.
To regard all these as
His manifestations is greatness. Here,
there is no effort to qualify these as high and low or favourable and
unfavourable. The status wherein the
seer is absent, the experiencer is non-existant, is the greatest. He alone exists. There is nothing else other than Him. That is the Truth.
DOUBT: In spite of all the
logic, arguments, my mind refuses to see God in the wicked, evil and the bad. Why?
Clarification: You can not see Him in the evil. OK.
Are you able to see Him in the Good?
Leave alone seeing, do you at least remember Him when you see good or
when you experience a happy moment?
Bad or evil is a
relative term. That which was bad a few
decades or a few centuries back, is no more, now. That which is condemned as bad at one place
is not so at some other place. We regard
the God as Pure, as Holy and hence keep Him away from anything we regard as bad
or evil, though we ourselves remain immersed in that. In some communities, there is a practice of
offering alcohol to the God before consuming.
Is that bad? He is offering to
God that which he himself wants to to consume. Desire may be for milk, Payasam or
alcohol. There is only ‘me’ in the
offering. ‘My desire’ is held
aloft. Yes. That is true.
But, he may elevate to a plane where he will consume only that which has
been offered to God. He will refine to a
stage in which he will consume as Divine Prasad anything he is offered.
One more thing. Let us think about the Sarvodaya workers who
worked among Chambal valley dacoits and caused transformation in their
lives. If only they had regarded
murders, dacoity, plunder as evil and the dacoits as being opposed to the
Divine, they would not have ventured into Chambal Valley and established peace
there. Yes. Murder and dacoity are definitely not
divine. The Sarvodaya workers could see
some Divine aspect in dacoits’ character, prompting them to such a noble work.
He used to steal things
in trains. He lived in shacks near the
railway station. He would pick up things
from slowing trains, jump out and run in to and disappear in the slum area. One day, he fell on the track and his
forehand was cut under the rolling wheels.
Anxious not to leave any clue to the police, he picked up the amputed
hand and fed a street dog. This
indicated the extra-ordinary will power and bravery. A social worker identified this, befriended
him and gradually became one in his family.
The boy transformed into a respected personality within a year. He started involving in social work in that
slum. He slowly evolved as a visionary
social worker. He rose to the level of a
social worker counselling patients in a huge hospital run by reputed doctors in
Nagpur. The bravery and determination in
his mind are manifestations of the Paramaatman.
There was a lady also a
resident of a slum in Nagpur. Distilling
alcohol (illegally) was her livelihood.
Her husband was mercenary killer and was murdered by adversaries. She had three sons and two daughters, all
under twelve, to bring up and had never ventured out of her house. She was in a plight. Her quandary was tried to be (s)exploited by
ruffians in the slum. In desparation,
she resorted to alcohol distillation.
She had to deal with ruffians and police. Naturally, she developed rough language. She brought up her children with dignity. (You may not agree to my using the term
dignity for an alcohol distiller. For
her situation, I definitely feel, she led a decent life.) A social worker noticed ‘detachment’, a
Divine quality in her. He worked
continuously in that area, with special focus on this family. In due course, he was successful in causing a
grand transformation in the area, more so in her. He helped in education of her children and
also in decent employment and slowly brought her out of her wretched
world. The detachment in her, is a
Divine Vibhooti.
Shri Krishna does not
suggest to see Paramaatman in evil. He
asks to see the Divine even in evil and inspite of the evil.
DOUBT: If I start seeing
the Paramaatman everywhere and in everything, will not worship and prayers
(Pooja and Prarthana) become meaningless?
Clarification: Yes.
These will become so in that state.
Why are prayers for? Mere
satisfaction? To demand and seek worldly
objects and positions? Out of Love and
devotion for Him? He who is ever
engrossed in Parama Bhavana, thoughts of the Paramaatman, is engaged in
Prathana every moment. He remains in
continuous Pooja or worship. The Parama
Bhava (state wherein one sees, experiences nothing else but Paramaatman in this
world) is not attainable by reciting the list of vibhootis explained by Shri
Krishna here or by continuous ‘auto-suggestion’ that ‘I see Paramaatman
everywhere’. It is one thing to know
intellectually through the books or lectures.
Experiencing is entirely different.
Parama Bhava is to be experienced.
True Prarthana is experienced only after Parama Bhava is
experienced. The experience then vastly
differs from what we do in the name of ‘Prarthana’. Now, we ‘do’ Prarthana. It is a conscious act of ‘me’. Then, Prarthana happens. It is involuntary, continuous broadcast sort
from within.
DOUBT: I have read and
heard the Gita so many times. Yet, I
have not grasped. What do I do?
Clarification: Discard your desire to understand the
Gita. She will reveal Herself at a
moment when your Buddhi is absent, when you are not consciously present. You just wait for the moment. A question must arise within. It must make you sleepless. If you search in the Gita for answer, you
will not find there. If the doubt
persists inside you all the 24 hours, an answer will reveal itself from depths
within, like a flash of lightning. Then,
if you look in the Gita, you will find that same answer there also.
DOUBT: Arjuna was given Divine eyes and he saw the Cosmic
Vision. How was Sanjaya able to see the
same?
CLARIFICATION: He was blessed with Divine eyes before the war
started.
DOUBT: What is the difference between the Divine eyes given to
Arjuna and those given to Sanjaya?
CLARIFICATION: The difference is in purpose. Hence, the potentials must also be
different. Sanjaya was given the eyes by
Shri Veda Vyasa, to enable him to see and explain to the blind king
Dhritarashtra, the proceedings on the battle field in distant Kurukshetra. It was for distant vision. Arjuna was given the Divine eyes for the sole
purpose of seeing the Cosmic Form.
Sanjaya could not have seen all that Arjuna saw. He merely repeats the detailed description
offered by Arjuna. The eyes fixed on
faces, the physical eyes, were not useful for the purpose, to both of
them. Sanjaya saw distant vision, (doora
darshan), while Arjuna saw Bhava Darshana, the subtle essence of the
Cosmos. Sanjaya describes what he saw in
the shlokams 9 to 14.
Swami Vivekananda also
had a similar personal experience, when he was touched the spot between his
eyebrows by Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.
He later described all that he saw in that state. Mother Yashoda in Golul Brindavan and
Bheeshma and Vidura in the court of Dhritarashtra, were able to see the Cosmic
Form, without being offered special eyes.
But, what Arjuna saw was unique.
Seeing That is beyond the capacity of our physical eyes. Hence, Arjuna was given those Divine eyes.
That Arjuna could not
see the terrible, furious Form and requested to be shown the gentler, affectionate
and smiling Form, is not due to a defect in the Divine eyes, but due to a flaw
in his swabhava.
DOUBT: Why did Arjuna not
see himself among the warriors being pulverised in the jaws of the Cosmic Form?
CLARIFICATION: We are worried and sad whenever we regard
ouselves as mere physical entity and death of the body as our own death. But, the truth is that the real ‘me’ has no
death. How can one experience something
unreal? How could he have seen something
hitherto unseen, unexperienced by him, something he will never experience in
the future also? That is the reason
Arjuna did not see himself. We might be
reminded of our ‘death’ on seeing others dying.
There have been some who accurately predicted their end. Shri Ramana maharshi and Swami Vivekananda
had knoon and announced their date of departure. But, knowing the date is one thing and
experiencing the moment of death is different.
Experiencing the event called death is impossible for man, because he
has no death.
DOUBT: How long could this vision have lasted?
CLARIFICATION: Time is a relative factor. In our dreams, we sometimes see long spans of
our life in a few seconds or minutes.
Similarly, this could have been over in what is a few seconds for
others. Sometimes, we realize in a flash,
deep truths, unattainable in years.
Similarly, this vision could have occured in a few seconds. Words, as usual are inept in explaining an
extra-ordinay experience. Hence the
description is elaborate. Moreover,
requirements of a poetic expression also necessiate an elaborate description.
DOUBT: He got special, Divine eyes. Yet, Arjuna could not see the vision beyond a
limit. Why so?
CLARIFICATION: Not that he could not see. He was prepared to see. Fear gripped him. Fear that, ‘I will disappear, will be
destroyed’ gripped him and he wants to avoid seeing It. ‘I’ has to end to know Him wholly. It is only when ‘I’ is ready to erase self,
the Paramaatman is known. As long as I
is alive, we stand apart and can not be one with Him and know Him. He can be known as ‘You’ different from
‘Me’. Arjuna’s ego was the hurdle. That made him close his eyes. Arjuna was on the last step on the ladder
reaching the Paramaatman. If only he had
crossed, history would have been different.
DOUBT: When He listens to our prayers, when He fulfills our demand
and gives all that we ask for, why is it advised that we should not demand in
our prayers?
CLARIFICATION: Not that we should never demand. When the whole treasury is waiting to become
yours, why demand petty things and favours from lower officers in the
bank? When our prayers are potent enough
to get Him, why demand anything else?
And if we demand, what we demand must be greater than the
Paramaatman. As long as we hold the
worldly thigs to be dearer than Him, we will be regarding our demands as
prayers. The real Prayer haappens when
we realize that He and only Him and nothing else matters. A prayer with demand is nothing but beggary.
Whether it is a demand
or a prayer is dependent on the quality of our attitude. So long we have the eyes which see defects
and shortcomings, so long as we have the mind whining for all that it does not
have, we do not pray but only demand or beg.
As soon as the eyes open, which see all that He has given, as soon as
the mind blossoms, which sings joyously at all that we have by His Grace,
begging stops and prayer starts happening.
Prayer happens when the mind plunges in His thoughts, when the person
praying is mesmerized by His Grace. Is the
prayer that ‘I should be one with the Paramaatman’ not a demand? some might
ask. True. Even that should not be prayed for. After a stage, the one in the act of prayer
will also vanish.
DOUBT: What is the role of Veda Vyasa in creation of the Gita?
CLARIFICATION: There are many who say the Gita is a figment of
Vyasa’s imagination. This statement of
theirs is not out of any research and study, but result of their refusal to
accept and acknowledge the hoary and glorious past. Ignore them.
Veda Vyasa did not write the Gita.
He did not write the Vedas too.
He merely compiled the prevalent wisdom.
Similarly, he merely narrated the happenings on the battle field. In a way, Veda Vyasa and Sanjaya did the same
job. Sanjaya narrated the happenings on
Kurukshetra battle field to the blind king Dhritarashtra, in a language he
might understand. Veda Vyasa narrates to
we blinds, blinds refusing to look for Paramaatman. He does that in a poetic language only to
attract our attention. But, he only
stated the factual happenings.
DOUBT: If everything is destined, then effort,
hardwork, progress all that will be finished.
Is that not so?
CLARIFICATION: The hard worker will not turn in to a lazy man
due to Dharma. If Dharma is avoided,
there is no way a lazy person could be motivated and activated. Dharma insists on Satyam or
truthfulness. That does not
automatically inspire everyone to be truthful.
In Bharat, Dharma was never thrust on people in the family or temple or
in educational institutions. The way was
more suggestive than commanding.
Christianity insists on weekly attendance in Church sermons and Islam
insists on attendance in namaaj, five times daily. ‘Show the other cheek if you are slapped on
one’. These words were propagated verily
as trade mark of Christianity. But, the two world wars in the last century
were instigated by Christian countries.
The frenzied participation was also by Christian countries.
That everything is
pre-destined is a Law of Nature. It does
not bother whether you agree or not.
DOUBT: It is often repeated in religious lectures that wealth is
bad and is the cause of all troubles. I
feel, this has resulted in devaluing the importance of hard work and has
increased level of hypocrisy in Bharat.
Am I right?
CLARIFICATION: The fakes say this. ‘Wealth is bad. Do not keep wealth. Hand that over to me’ – type of religious
leaders. What is needed is change in
attitude towards wealth. That wealth is
most important and indispensible and any means can be adopted to earn it’ is
the prevalent attitude. This has to
change. ‘There is no need for money or
wealth’ is also right, not for all. Tht
attitude suits only those who have attained that level in spiritual
progress. That is not for propagation
and discussion on public platform.
‘Never divulge
Spiritual secrets and your personal experiences’. That is an unwritten rule in Spiritual
world. Sharing that with others, usually
does not motivate them to work in that direction. It only impresses an amazing image of the
speaker in their minds. The speaker too
intends the same. We laud the
experience. We laud, may even worship
the one who has experienced, the one who claims to have experienced. There is no effort to digest the essence of
the experience and put that into practice in own life. He says ‘Money is petty and unworthy
posession’. We listen to that, repeat
those words and start admiring the speaker.
There is no experimentation with the idea in own life. There is no effort to readjust our priorities
in life. You can not expect generation
of anything else but hypocisy.
\\\\\ HARIH OM TAT SAT \\\\\
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