Bhagavad Gitalifeblissprograms.org/e-books/pdf/bhagavad_gita_digital...Bhagavad Gita Demystified...

Bhagavad Gi ta Demystified

Make no mistake, you are divine!Whatever state you are in now,

you are still divine within!Let Krishna tell you

how to unleash your divine potential.

Discourses delivered to Swamis and Ananda Samajisof the Nithyananda Order all over the world

CHAPTER 2

N i t h y a n a n d a

You Are God

The meditation techniques included in this book are to bepracticed only after personal instructions by an ordainedteacher of Life Bliss Foundation (LBF). If some one triesthese techniques without prior participation in the meditationprograms of LBF, they shall be doing so entirely at theirown risk; neither the author nor LBF shall be responsiblefor the consequences of their actions.

Published byLife Bliss Foundation

Copyright© 2008First Edition: December 2006Second Edition: July 2008

ISBN 10: 1-934364-01-0 ISBN 13: 978-1-934364-01-7

All rights reserved. No part of this publication maybe reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, ortransmitted by any form or by any means, electronic,mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,without written permission of the publisher. In theevent that you use any of the information in this bookfor yourself, the author and the publisher assume noresponsibility for your actions.

All proceeds from the sale of this book go towardssupporting charitable activities.

Printed in India by WQ Judge Press, Bangalore.Ph.: +91 +80 22211168

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Contents

1. Bhagavad Gita: A Background 7

2. Introduction 15

3. You Are God 19

4. A Zen Slap Awakens 27

5. Pity Is Not Compassion 45

6. Surrender Is Not Based On Your Convenience 51

7. The Master Is Your Bridge To Divinity 59

8. Time Is Psychological, Not Chronological 69

9. When You Mourn, You Mourn For Yourself 85

10. The Only Reality In Life Is Impermanence 99

11. Inner And Outer Violence 110

12. You Are Immortal 123

13. Be Aware of Depression of Success 140

14. Death Is But A Passage 152

15. The Present Alone Matters 162

16. Code Of The Samurai 168

17. Jump First, Think Later 176

18. What Matters Is Experience, Not Knowledge 189


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19. Half Knowledge Is More Dangerous ThanIgnorance 195

20. Act, Don’t Worry About The Results 202

21. If Your Path Is Right, Your Destination Will BeRight 211

22. Stand Up And Be Counted 217

23. Follow That Man! 227

24. Trust Existence, Not Your Logic 235

25. Monkeys In Your Mind! 241

26. All Desires Are Addictive! 253

27. Wake Up! 260

28. Drop Your Ego 267

29. Scientific Research On Bhagavad Gita 272

30. Kuru Family Tree 274

31. Glossary Of Key Characters in theBhagavad Gita 275

32. Meaning Of Selected Sanskrit Words 277

33. Invocation Verses 290

34. Verses Of Gita Chapter 2 291

35. About Paramahamsa Nithyananda 335

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BhagavadGita:A Background

Bhagavad Gita is a sacred scripture of theVedic culture. As with all scriptures, itwas knowledge that was transmittedverbally. It was called sruti in Sanskrit,meaning something that is heard.

Gita, as Bhagavad Gita is generallycalled, translates literally from Sanskritas the ‘Sacred Song’. Unlike the Vedaand Upanishad, which are self-standingexpressions, Gita is written into theHindu epic Mahabharata, called apurana, an ancient tale. It is part of astory, so to speak.


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As a scripture, Gita is part of the ancient knowledgebase of Vedic tradition, which is the expression of theexperiences of great sages.

Veda and Upanishad, the foundation of sruti literature,arose through the insight and awareness of these greatsages when they went into a no-mind state. These are asold as humanity and the first and truest expressions in thejourney of man’s search for truth.

Unlike the Vedas, which were internalized by the greatsages, or the Upanishads, which were the teachings ofthese great sages, Gita is part of a story narrated byVyasa, one of these great sages. It is narrated as thedirect expression of the Divine.

No other epic, or part of an epic, has the special statusof the Gita. As a consequence of the presence of Gita, theMahabharata epic itself is considered a sacred Hinduscripture. Gita arose from the super consciousness ofKrishna, the Supreme God, and is therefore considered ascripture.

Mahabharata, literally the Great Bharata, is a narrationabout the nation and civilization, which is now known asIndia. It was then a nation ruled by King Bharata and hisdescendants. The story of this epic is about two warringclans, Kauravas and Pandavas, closely related to oneanother. Dhritharashtra, the blind King of Hastinapuraand father of the 100 Kaurava brothers was the brother ofPandu, whose children were the five Pandava princes. Itis a tale of strife between cousins.

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Pandu was the King of Hastinapura. A sage cursed himthat he would die if he ever entered into physicalrelationship with his wives. He therefore had no children.Vyasa says that all the five Pandava children were born totheir mothers Kunti and Madri through the blessing ofdivine beings. Pandu handed over the kingdom and hischildren to his blind brother Dhritharashtra and retired tomeditate in the forest.

Kunti had received a boon when she was still a youngunmarried adolescent, that she could summon any divinepower at will to father a child. Before she married, shetested her boon. The Sun God Surya appeared before her.Karna was born to her as a result. In fear of socialreprisals, she cast the newborn away in a river.Yudhishtra, Bhima, and Arjuna were born to Kunti afterher marriage by invocation of her powers, and the twinsNakula and Sahadeva were born to Madri, the secondwife of Pandu.

Yudhishtra was born to Kunti as a result of her beingblessed by Yama, the God of death and justice, Bhima byVayu, the God of wind, and Arjuna by Indra, God of alldivine beings. Nakula and Sahadeva, the youngestPandava twins were born to Madri, through the divineAshwini twins.

Dhritharashtra had a hundred sons through his wifeGandhari. The eldest of these Kaurava princes wasDuryodhana. Duryodhana felt no love for his fivePandava cousins. He made many unsuccessful attempts,along with his brother Dushashana, to kill the Pandavabrothers. Kunti’s eldest son Karna, whom she had cast


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away at birth, was brought up by a chariot driver in thepalace and by a strange twist of fate joined hands withDuryodhana.

Dhritharashtra gave Yudhishtra one half of the KuruKingdom on his coming of age, since the Pandava Princewas the rightful heir to the throne that his father Panduhad vacated. Yudhishtra ruled from his new capitalIndraprastha, along with his brothers Bhima, Arjuna,Nakula and Sahadeva. Arjuna won the hand of PrincessDraupadi, daughter of the King of Panchala, in aswayamwara, a marital contest in which princes fought forthe hand of a fair damsel. In fulfilment of their motherKunti’s desire that the brothers would share everythingequally, Draupadi became the wife of all five Pandavabrothers.

Duryodhana persuaded Yudhishtra to join a gamblingsession, where his cunning uncle Sakuni defeated thePandava King. Yudhishtra lost all that he owned - hiskingdom, his brothers, his wife and himself, toDuryodhana. Dushashana shamed Draupadi in public bytrying to disrobe her. The Pandava brothers andDraupadi were forced to go into exile for 14 years, withthe condition that in the last year they should liveincognito.

At the end of the 14 years, the Pandava brothers triedto reclaim their kingdom. In this effort they were helpedby Krishna, the King of the Yadava clan, who isconsidered the eighth divine reincarnation of Vishnu.However, Duryodhana refused to yield even aneedlepoint of land, and as a result, the Great War, the

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War of Mahabharata ensued. In this war, various rulers ofthe entire nation that is modern India aligned with one orthe other of these two clans, the Kauravas or thePandavas.

Krishna offered to join with either of the two clans. Hesaid, ‘One of you may have me unarmed. I will not takeany part in the battle. The other may have my entireYadava army.’ The first offer was made to Duryodhana,who predictably chose the large and well-armed Yadavaarmy, in preference to the unarmed Krishna. Arjunajoyfully and gratefully chose his friend and mentorKrishna to be his unarmed charioteer!

The armies assembled in the vast field of Kurukshetra,now in the state of Haryana in modern day India. All theKings and Princes were related to one another, and wereoften on opposite sides. Facing the Kaurava army and hisfriends, relatives and teachers, Arjuna was overcome byremorse and guilt, and wanted to walk away from thebattle.

Krishna’s dialogue with Arjuna on the battlefield ofKurukshetra is the content of the Bhagavad Gita. Krishnapersuaded Arjuna to take up arms and vanquish hisenemies. ‘They are already dead,’ says Krishna, ‘all thosewho are facing you have been already killed by Me. Goahead and do what you have to do. That is your duty.Do not worry about the outcome. Leave that to Me.’

The Gita is the ultimate practical teaching on the innerscience of spirituality. It is not as some scholars


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incorrectly claim, a promotion of violence. It is about theimpermanence of the mind, body, and the need todestroy the mind, ego and logic.

Sanjaya, King Dhritharashtra’s charioteer, presents Gitain eighteen chapters to the blind king. All the KauravaPrinces as well as all their commanders such as Bhishma,Drona and Karna were killed in battle. The five Pandavabrothers survived as winners and became the rulers of thecombined kingdom.

This dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna is a dialoguebetween man and God or nara and Narayana as they aretermed in Sanskrit. Arjuna’s questions and doubts arethose of each one of us. The answers of the Divine,Krishna, transcend time and space. Krishna’s message is asvalid today as it was on that fateful battlefield somethousands of years ago.

Nithyananda explains the inner metaphorical meaningof Mahabharata thus:

‘The Great War of Mahabharata is the fight betweenthe positive and negative thoughts of the mind, called thesamskaras. Positive thoughts are the Pandava princes andthe negative thoughts are the Kaurava princes.Kurukshetra or the battlefield is the body. Arjuna is theindividual consciousness and Krishna is the enlightenedMaster.

The various commanders who led the Kaurava armyrepresent the major blocks that the individual

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consciousness faces in its journey to enlightenment.Bhishma represents parental and societal conditioning.Drona represents the conditioning from teachers whoprovide knowledge including spiritual guidance. Karnarepresents the restrictive influence of good deeds such ascharity and compassion, and finally Duryodhanarepresents the ego, which is the last to fall.

Parental and societal conditionings have to be overcomeby rebelling against conventions. This is why traditionallythose seeking the path of enlightenment are required torenounce the world as sannyasin and move away fromcivilization. This conditioning does not die as long as thebody lives, but its influence drops.

Drona represents all the knowledge one imbibes andthe teachers one encounters, who stop short of being toable to take us through to the ultimate flowering ofenlightenment. It is difficult to give them up since onefeels grateful to them. This is where the enlightenedmaster steps in and guides us.

Karna is the repository of all good deeds and it is hisgood deeds that stand in the way of his ownenlightenment. Krishna has to take the load of Karna’spunya, his meritorious deeds, before he could beliberated. The enlightened Master guides one to dropone’s attachment to good deeds arising out of what areperceived to be charitable and compassionate intentions.He also shows us that the quest for and experience ofenlightenment is the ultimate act of compassion that onecan offer to the world.


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Finally one reaches Duryodhana, one’s ego, the mostdifficult to conquer. One needs the full help of the Masterhere. It is subtle work and even the Master’s help maynot be obvious, since at this point, sometimes the egomakes one disconnect from the Master as well.

The Great War was between one hundred eightymillion people - one hundred ten million on the Kauravaside representing our negative samskaras – storedmemories - and seventy million on the Pandava siderepresenting our positive samskaras – stored memories -and it lasted eighteen days and nights. The numbereighteen has a great mystical significance. It essentiallysignifies our ten senses that are made up of gnanendriya -the five senses of perception like taste, sight, smell,hearing and touch, and karmendriya - the five sensesinitiating action like speech, bodily movements etc.,added to our eight kinds of thoughts like lust, greed etc.All eighteen need to be dropped for Self-realization.

Mahabharata is not just an epic story. It is not merelythe fight between good and evil. It is the dissolution ofboth positive and negative samskaras that reside in ourbody-mind system, which must happen for the ultimateliberation. It is a tale of the process of enlightenment.

Mahabharata is a living legend. Bhagavad Gita is themanual for enlightenment.

Like Arjuna many thousand years ago, you are here ina dialogue with a living enlightened Master in this book.This is a tremendous opportunity to resolve all questionsand clear all doubts with the Master’s words.

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IntroductionIn this series, a young enlightened

Master, Paramahamsa Nithyanandacomments on the Bhagavad Gita.

Many hundreds of commentaries ofthe Gita have been written over theyears. The earliest commentaries wereby the great spiritual masters such asSankara, Ramanuja and Madhva, somethousand years ago. In recent times,great masters such as RamakrishnaParamahamsa and Ramana Maharishihave spoken from the Gita extensively.Many others have written volumes onthis great scripture.


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Nithyananda’s commentary on the Bhagavad Gita isnot just a literary translation and a simple explanation ofthat translation. He takes the reader through a worldtour while talking about each verse. It is believed thateach verse of the Gita has seven levels of meaning. Whatis commonly rendered is the first level meaning. Here, anenlightened master takes us beyond the common into theuncommon, with equal ease and simplicity.

To read Nithyananda’s commentary on the Gita is toobtain an insight that is rare. It is not mere reading; it isan experience; it is a meditation.

Sankara, the great master philosopher said:

‘A little reading of the Gita, a drop of Ganga waterto drink, remembering Krishna once in a while, all thiswill ensure that you have no problems with the God ofDeath.’

Editors of these volumes of Bhagavad Gita haveexpanded upon the original discourses delivered byNithyananda through further discussions with Him. Forease of understanding for English speaking readers, andto cater to their academic interest, the original Sanskritverses in their English translation have been included asan appendix in this book.

This reading is meant to help every individual in dailylife as well as in the endeavour to realize the UltimateTruth. It creates every possibility to attain nithyananda,eternal bliss!

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Swami Picture


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Blank

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You Are God!It is here that we enter into the real Gita. It is from

here that Bhagavan or God startsspeaking.

Until now Krishna was speaking as aman, as Vasudeva Krishna, in Hishuman form, but it is only from herethat Krishna speaks as the ParabrahmaKrishna, as Bhagavan, in His divinestate.

An important point we all need tounderstand is that only an intelligentman will allow the other person tospeak. We all speak continuously toeach other but a conversation does not


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really happen. The two are quite different. We don’t haveconversations. We simply carry out simultaneousmonologues with each other. When the other personspeaks we do not listen; we are busy preparing our ownreply. Similarly, when we speak, the other person isactually preparing his response.

We are polite enough to pretend that we are listeningso that we will, in turn, be heard. A conversation doesnot happen. You need intelligence to allow the otherperson to speak. Please understand that you do not needintelligence to speak; you need it only to listen.

A small story:

A person was telling his friend that he had notspoken to his wife for a whole week. His friendasked him whether he was angry with her or if hehad fought with her.

The man replied, ‘No, I am afraid of interruptingher!’

Maybe because Bhagavan is a male, he allowed Arjunato speak!

We may either speak verbally or mentally, but in anycase, we are speaking continuously. Why do you thinkpsychiatrists are paid so well? The professions ofpsychiatry and psychoanalysis are nothing but the art oflistening. A psychiatrist is a person who asks expensivequestions and just listens, nothing else! We speakcontinuously. Even when we keep quiet, we are notlistening.

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A real incident:

A young trainee in Psychiatry was overwhelmedby the ease with which his experienced mentorcounseled patients. They poured their hearts out tohim. The trainee was deeply disturbed by thesetraumatic experiences that were shared. Yet, hismentor went from one patient to another calmly andwithout being affected.

After a few weeks of this training the youngerdoctor approached his mentor and said, ‘I am notsure I can bear this much longer. I am gettingdepressed. How can you listen to all these peoplewithout getting disturbed? What is the trick?’

His mentor calmly responded, ‘Who listens?’

Krishna does listen. He listens carefully and answerscompassionately. Of the original seven hundred forty fiveverses in the Gita, as part of the Bhishma Purana ofMahabharata, He responds in depth to Arjuna’s fifty-seven questions through six hundred twenty verses.

In the first chapter Bhagavan does not say a word tointerrupt Arjuna. He allows Arjuna to speak fully for onewhole chapter. He keeps quiet even on seeing the depthof Arjuna’s confusion and depression. He consciouslyanalyzes the origin of Arjuna’s thoughts to determine theplatform of confusion upon which Arjuna is standing.

It is possible to become a successful businessman justby studying the first few chapters of the Gita. You can


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reach the peak of your profession just by learning the artof listening. Once you listen clearly, you will automaticallybe able to answer clearly as well. A devotee once askedme, ‘Master, how is it that you are able to answer somany questions?’ There is only one secret to this. I knowhow to listen to the question, that’s all. If you know thetechnique of listening, the reply is immediately ready inyour being.

The problem is that we do not trust ourselves and ourinnate intelligence to respond to a question withoutpreparation. That is why we start preparing the replyeven before listening to the question. We do not have thepatience to listen to the problem. Before we listen to it,we already start judging the speaker and develop thesolution to the query. We are only interested inexpressing what we know, not in addressing the realproblem or even in understanding what the other personhas to say.

We hear mechanically at best; we never really listen.

Here, Krishna is interested in the real problem and notinterested in expressing what He knows. The only reasona Master expresses is his endless compassion. He wantsArjuna to have clarity of mind and is interested inhelping him find a solution to his problem. He allowedArjuna to speak so that He could go to the root of theproblem and address the issue.

One needs intelligence, or I may say enlightenment, tolisten.

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Only an enlightened Master like Krishna can listen. Inthe first chapter He listens fully and completely. Even inthe second chapter, He allowed Arjuna to speak in manyverses.

He knew that once He allowed Arjuna to express hisproblems, he would himself find the solution to them.

People come to me and say, ‘Master, you know ourproblems; please give us the answer.’ I ask them to statetheir problems clearly.

They say, ‘You are enlightened and already know ofour problems; please give us the answer.’

I say, ‘Yes, I know your problem even if you don’tspeak, but you will not know your own problem if youdo not speak.’

Even if, in some cases, we may not be able to speakout in detail with clarity, we should be able to thinkthrough our problem, so that at least we understand whatthe problem is. Our mind should be open to possibilities.

I tell people during the Ananda Darshan (energyawakening) part of our programs that they can ask mefor advice on problems that they face.

When you speak the Master listens. More importantly,you listen within yourself. Actually, it is not evennecessary to speak and hold up people who are queuingup behind you. All that is needed is to keep your mindopen so that the transmission can take place. Even if you


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do not verbalize you can visualize your needs andproblems and this will be even more powerful thanspeech itself.

That is what happens on the Kurukshetra battlefield.People who have the rationality to compute time maywonder, ‘Arjuna spoke for so long. Now Krishna speaksfor so long. How is it possible for these two to hold sucha long conversation in the middle of a battlefield? Whatwere all the others doing? Wasn’t Duryodhana fed up ordidn’t he think that this was a good opportunity to getrid of Arjuna and Krishna, as they talked and wastedeverybody’s time?’

That’s how the logical, rational, unaware mind thinks.Such a mind cannot conceive of the possibility that aconversation can indeed take place in silence. People arenot used to visualization. They lose this skill as they growup. Children can visualize beautifully. That is why theycan keep themselves busy talking silently to themselvesand talking silently with imaginary friends. Education andlogic rob us of this skill.

At the next level of communication your mind needsto be still to allow the grace to move in. This is thesubtlest and most powerful of all communication. At thislevel communication becomes communion.

When they talk of great Masters like Ramana Maharishicommunicating in silence, it was indeed true. Tocommunicate, you need not open your mouth. You onlyneed to open up your mind. When the mind is open and

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free of disturbing thoughts, especially in front of theMaster, communication can take place at the speed oflight. The presence of the Master will help still your mind.Answers will appear even before your questions areasked.

Seekers, intellectual seekers, with years of questioningand doubting behind them, come to me and ask, ‘Master,why is it that when I come to you with hundreds ofquestions, when I am in front of you, there is no need toask you about them? I feel as if the answers are alreadythere!’

This is not imagination; this is truth. Questions canonly raise more questions. Questions are a reflection ofyour inner ego, which is violence. When you are in frontof the Master, a Master you truly believe in, the firstthing that happens is the melting of your ego. The egojust disappears like snow in the sun. Therefore, questionsalso disappear. In their place the answers that you werealready aware of make their appearance, previouslyhidden by the veil of your ego, your ignorance. You startfeeling that magically, miraculously the answers appear infront of the Master.

The truth is that the answers were all there, alreadythere. Our ego would not allow us to accept and beaware of those answers. The Master’s presence dissolvedthe ego and let the answers out.

There is an interesting Zen parable.

A soldier went to the Master - Nansen, with thisproblem.


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A man kept a goose in a bottle, feeding it until itgrew too large to get out of the neck of the bottle.Now, how did he get the goose out without killingthe goose or breaking the bottle?

Nansen said to him, ‘Oh, Officer?’

The soldier responded, ‘Yes, Master?’

Nansen exclaimed ‘There, the goose is out of thebottle!’

The moment the soldier addressed Nansen asMaster, accepted that he was his Master, the goose,the ego, was out of the bottle, his body-mind!

Only when you open up to the Master do you actuallycome to know your problem clearly and the answerscome as if from nowhere. You can do it at three levels.You can converse and convey through words and theMaster will listen. At the next level you can communicatefrom the heart in silence; you can visualize instead ofverbalizing in speech. Finally, you can commune in silenceand the Master will grasp this even more powerfully.

Here Krishna allowed Arjuna to verbalize, so that tobegin with, Arjuna himself has the clarity to understandhis problem. Once Arjuna expressed his confusion, hecould relapse into silence and commune with the Master.

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A Zen Slap Awakens!2.1 Sanjaya said,

As Arjuna’s eyes overflowed withtears of pity and despair,

Krishna spoke to him thus.

2.2 Krishna said,

Where from has this dejectiondescended on you at this critical time,Arjuna!

You behave unlike a noble man andthis will keep you away fromrealization.


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2.3 Do not yield to fear, Partha! It does not befit you.

Drop this faint heartedness and stand up, Destroyer ofenemies!

Arjuna was distraught with pity and despair. His pitywas for his opposition that consisted of kinsmen, elders,teachers, relatives and friends. He despaired at thethought of what would happen if he did have to killthem. His dilemma was complete and total. He hadcollapsed in his chariot and his bow and arrow hadslipped from his hands.

Lord Krishna allowed Arjuna to exhaust himself,physically, emotionally and spiritually. He listened to himcarefully. Krishna wanted to give Arjuna time to open hismind, heart and being to Him, his friend, guide andMaster, so that His answers would penetrate Arjuna’svery being.

Then He spoke for the first time, as if opening Hisbeing directly. Krishna says, ‘My dear Arjuna, how haveyou acquired these impurities? They do not at all befit aman who knows the value of life. They lead not tohigher planes but to infamy.’

This verse is connected to the next one.

‘O Partha! Do not yield to this degrading impotence. Itdoes not become you. Give up such petty weakness ofheart and arise, O destroyer of the enemy.’

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I may say that this is the direction of the whole Gita.Krishna is the true Zen Master and does not beat aroundthe bush. Understand that Krishna is not a philosopherand addresses the issue straightaway. A philosopherwould have gone on and on, loving his own logic andvoice. Philosophers talk only to prove that they know andin the process prove that they are fools. If they keepquiet, people can only suspect that they are in thepresence of a fool, but by opening their mouths theyprove the suspicion.

Krishna is not a philosopher and He has no time towaste on fools.

He asks Arjuna directly, ‘How did such impuritiescome upon you? They are not for a man like you. Theywill not lead you to higher planes but only defame you.’In the next verse He asks Arjuna to give up thisweakness and, addressing him as ‘destroyer of enemy’,asks him to arise.

This is a straight Zen response.

A disciple goes to an enlightened Zen Master and asks,‘Master, what is Buddha? How can I become Buddha?Please teach me.’

The Master slaps him hard on his face.

The disciple is shocked, as he expected to receive somekind of meditation technique, a blessing or guidance. Itwas like going to a swami and asking him how to realizeGod or atman and receiving a blow in return! But thedisciple, being mature, does not speak ill of his Master.


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He says, ‘Master, I know that you do not do anythingwithout a meaning. Though I am unable to understandthe reason for your action, I cannot say it is wrong. Pleaseexplain.’

The Master says, ‘Fool, you are Buddha. Why do you tryto become something you are already? If a horse comes tome and asks how it can become a horse, how to eat grassand drink water, what can I do? You are already that andnothing else needs to be added to you. That’s why Islapped you, to awaken you. That’s all.’

Similarly, Krishna gives the direction to the whole Gitawith this one ‘slap’.

Krishna knows Arjuna’s problem. Please understandthat Arjuna is not depressed because of a spiritual search.It is just that he does not want a solution; he wants onlysupport.

Understand, asking for solutions and asking forsupport are two different things.

What Arjuna needs is support, not a solution. This iswhy Krishna does not speak of spirituality in these twoverses. Arjuna’s problem originates from fear and worry.His Manipuraka (navel center) and Swadhishtana (being center)chakras, energy centers within the body that get lockeddue to worry and fear, are now locked completely!Because of his fear, he has deep seated complexes, stressand worry. Krishna addresses Arjuna’s deep fearstraightaway without any philosophy and asks him togive up his foolish weakness and to get up and fight. He

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does not offer any consolation, just a straightforwardscolding, and a slap to awaken him.

If Arjuna had been in a mood of stotra, a devotionalsurrender that he reaches only later on, these two verseswould have served as sutra or techniques for him. IfArjuna had been without fear and expressed full faith anddevotion in Krishna, these two verses would have beenenough to get him up and going. He would have becomeenlightened or would have achieved the ultimate just withthese two verses.

The entire Gita would have been encapsulated here andthere would have been no need to continue. None of uswould need to come here for eighteen days!

I spoke to you about sastra, stotra and sutra (wisdom,devotion and technique) in the first chapter.

All three can be a means to enlightenment for peopleof different aptitudes.

Sastras are the wisdom of scriptural inputs aimed at theintellectual seeker, the one centered at the head. Stotrasare aimed at the emotions, at the heart, in the form ofdevotional songs and stories. Sutras are for the being levelpeople, techniques of meditation and yoga. These are notexclusive, in that one must be practiced to the exclusionof another. The same person may be in a state to receivea stotra today and a sastra tomorrow. At this point, Arjunais in the state to be intellectually convinced and Krishnaemploys sastra as the right approach.


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Since he was not in the mood of stotra, not yet readywith devotion and faith, Krishna had to create the sastra,or method, to bring him to the stotra state. The wholeissue was due to fear plus worry and depression becauseof this fear.

All our depressions have their roots in anxiety andfear. You need to stand up to them to be rid of them.

A small story:

A presidential candidate was addressing a pressconference, ‘I am very optimistic about my future.’

The journalist asked, ‘Then why do you look soworried?’

The candidate replied, ‘My optimism is notwarranted. So, I am worried.’

We constantly expect our optimism to be warrantedand when we do not get the warranty, we startworrying. All our depression, worry and anxiety arenothing but a deep fear of life and fear of losingsomething.

There are many levels of fear: fear of losing our wealthand status, fear of losing a limb or our health, fear oflosing our near and dear ones and fear of the unknownor death. That is why Krishna says that Arjuna is notbehaving as an arya, a word that can be interpreted as anoble man. The term arya is applied here to denote anaware human being, not to a particular race or caste. Vedic

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literature says that an arya is one who is evolved,cultured, a prince amongst men.

Here Krishna tells Arjuna that he is confronted with allthe four fears: fear that he may lose whatever hepossesses, that he may be maimed in the war, that hemay lose his near and dear ones, and fourth, that he maylose his very life. These fears have in turn led to hisworry.

Krishna directly addresses this worry and fear withthe sastra, the explanation of wisdom that is directed tothe head, the intellect.

Later on in the Gita, in the eleventh chapter, afterreceiving Krishna’s Cosmic Vision, Arjuna realizes whoKrishna truly is. He understands that Krishna is beyondeverything and beyond his imagination, hiscomprehension. He is not surprised any longer that all thedeities worship Him and surrender to Him. Krishna thenrepeats the same words that He says now, after whichthe Gita ends and Arjuna engages in the war.

These same words uttered by Krishna later on, whenArjuna is in the state of stotra, when he is in a state ofpure devotion and faith, become the sutra, the techniqueof enlightenment for Arjuna. That stage is yet to happen.Since Arjuna is not yet in the devotional state now, thesewords are only plain wisdom.

Krishna is not a philosopher. All philosophy is anattempt to convince the other to do what the philosopher


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wants of him. It may be a very slow process, but still aprocess of trying to convince the other person what todo.

Hitler, in his autobiography says that if a lie isrepeated a hundred times, it becomes the truth and if atruth is expressed for the first time, people think it is alie. Whether something is true or false does not dependon the actual fact, but on how many times it is repeated!

All philosophies, whether they are of communism orreligion or politics, are the same. Philosophers inventlogical reasons as to why you should follow their words.

Here Krishna is not a philosopher and does not wantto create any philosophy.

He tries to give the conclusion directly to Arjuna.However, as Arjuna is not in the mood to receive itbecause he is not mature enough to assimilate it, Krishnaneeds to give Arjuna the experience.

There is a beautiful story in the Upanishad:

A disciple goes to the Master and asks, ‘O Master!Teach me atmagnana, knowledge of the inner Self.’

The Master says, ‘Thou art that! Tatvamasi, You areGod.’

The disciple, unable to believe this, thinks tohimself, ‘How can I be God? I am still afraid of mywife. I have all these problems and a thousandquestions!’

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Only when the Master proves to him that theMaster himself is God, the disciple trusts the Master’swords.

The Master needs to first prove that he is God inorder to make you understand that you are God. HereKrishna does the same thing by repeating that He is allof this.

Krishna later explains His glory and that all the devata,the deities, Vedas, the scriptural wisdom, are worshiping atHis feet; the whole world is in Him. He makes theseincredible statements that would appear egoistic to anormal person. And yet Krishna says all this, even at therisk of being misunderstood. He repeats that He is Godto make you realize that you are God.

With authority He states, ‘I am God’ to make yourealize that you are God.

You would not believe the words of ordinary people.You need to hear the words from a source of authoritythat has the right to say them. Here Krishna says thesame words that He repeats throughout the entire Gita.But as of now Arjuna is not able to take it all in. It is toomuch for him to grasp in his present condition.

Once Krishna proves His divinity, Arjuna believes Hiswords and is ready to follow them.

Similarly, when Masters prove their divinity andperform great deeds or miracles, they do not do so fortheir ego satisfaction. They do them to prove that they


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are God, so that you believe their words and experiencethat you are God. This is the reason why Mastersrepeatedly prove their divinity through expression oftheir energies.

Bhagavad Gita is not part of the Vedas or Upanishadsthat are traditionally classified as sacred scriptures, or thesruti which are believed to have had divine origin. Gita ispart of an epic, a purana, the Mahabharata. Some evenbelieve that the Gita was a later addition to Mahabharata.Despite all that, Gita and Mahabharata are accepteduniversally as a scripture by all Hindu scholars. It is theauthority with which Krishna is seen to deliver the Gitathat makes it a scripture.

‘I am the Divine,’ says Krishna. ‘If you believe in Me,you too shall realize your inner divinity.’

It is this profound and yet simple message, that hasresounded so deeply in the hearts, minds and beings ofgenerations of Hindus, in turn establishing the scripturalsanctity of Gita.

A great author wrote a book of just forty pages givingthe gist of his philosophy. One reader asked him why thebook was only forty pages long. The author replied that ifhe had the time he would have written a book of onlytwenty pages!

It requires intelligence to put anything into a clear,simple form or in a nutshell.

To go on and on, not much intelligence is required.Only fools write big volumes! Intelligent people express

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the same content in a few words. The less you know ofsomething the more you speak and write about it.

Here all the verses of the Gita are reduced to just twoverses by Krishna.

He straightaway addresses and clears the point whereArjuna is stuck, in his need for name and fame or rajas. Aman who is centered on satva, goodness, who has neithergreed nor lethargy but a neutral attitude, will work outof compassion. A man who is centered on rajas will workonly for name and fame. A man who is centered on tamas,lethargy, will work only for sensual pleasures.

Duryodhana works only through tamas, which is whyhis cruel and gross behavior. Dharmaraja Yudhishtraworks on satva, out of compassion. Here Arjuna iscentered on rajas, therefore, he is working only for nameand fame. This is why Krishna asks him not to work inthis way as it would ultimately bring Arjuna a bad name.This is how He straightaway puts His hand on thetumor, the tumor that is the subtle ego working withinArjuna.

Fortunately, Arjuna is not intelligent enough. Or ratherhe acts as if he is not intelligent enough to understandthese words. He has lived with Krishna for more thanthirty years and must have intelligence. He puts hisquestions and addresses his doubts not for himself but forthe future generations and for the whole of humankind.

Krishna again comes to the point straightaway. He isnot creating a philosophy and does not beat around the


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bush. He declares, ‘O Arjuna! Lead not into this degradingweakness, do not behave like this. Come out!’

A small story I read in a magazine recently:

There was a person who had a compulsive andobsessive habit of tearing up whatever paper he laidhis hands on. His family was worried and took himto Jungians, Freudians and psychoanalysts. Theyspent a lot of money and tried all possible treatmentsbut nothing worked.

One day they read about a young and innovativepsychotherapist in the newspaper and decided to tryhim. The therapist said he wanted to spend a fewminutes alone with the patient. He and the patientsimply walked up and down for a few minutes, afterwhich the therapist returned and pronounced that thepatient was now cured of his malady and could betaken home.

His family was surprised when they found that hereally was cured. Even after a year he was found tobe perfectly alright. However, no one knew how theproblem disappeared. The family returned to thedoctor to express their gratitude. They wanted toknow what the doctor had really done to cure him ofthe problem that others could not solve.

He replied that he had simply asked the patientnot to tear any more paper and that if he did so evenonce more, the patient would be brought to the

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doctor again, whereupon he would be thrown out ofthe window!

Most of the time our problems are very simple. Wecomplicate them by analyzing them. When we verbalizeand analyze a problem, we complicate it and give powerto it. Our problems are not as big as we think they are.When we verbalize, analyze, label and categorize them,we have created a whole new problem that had notexisted earlier in our being. This is how psychiatricdoctors continue to invent newer diseases!

The more we analyze, the more problems anddifficulties we create.

The simple and direct approach of the young doctorsolved the problem which all the detailed analysis andlying down on couches did not.

You have only one mind. You can either use it to solvethe problem or it will naturally get used to creating moreproblems. Understand that if you are not solving yourexisting problems, you will be creating more problems. Inthe level of the mind, there is no position of simplystanding, no status quo – you either climb or fall.

Here Krishna straightaway addresses Arjuna’s problem.

Another small story:

A man walks into a bar with his pet pig. Thebartender notices that the pig has a wooden leg. Heis surprised that a pig is brought into the bar and


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also one with a wooden leg. He asks the customerabout the pig’s wooden leg. The man realizes that hecould cash in on the bartender’s curiosity and repliesthat, if he could get a free drink, he would relate thewhole story. The bartender agrees.

After the first drink the man says that this is aspecial pig that saved him, his wife and his familywhen his house was on fire. The bartender nods butsays that he still cannot understand why the pig has awooden leg. The man replies that he will continuewith the story if he gets another free drink.

The bartender agrees. The man says that when hefell into a lake, the pig rushed to his wife, called herand the man was again saved. The bartender is notable to take it anymore. He says he understands thatthe pig is special but still does not know why it has awooden leg. The man asks for one more free drink.The bartender agrees to give one last drink.

The man begins yet another story of how the pigonce again saved him from a tornado, but thebartender would have no more of it. He catches holdof the man by his neck and demands to know whythe pig has a wooden leg.

The man replies calmly, ‘Such a special pig! Whocould eat it all at once? I’m eating it part by part!’

The man narrated the whole thing as a story that hecould have finished in just one line. He must have been agreat philosopher!

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Here Krishna is not creating any philosophy and givesthe answer straightaway in just one line. However, asArjuna is not mature enough, He has to give anintellectual explanation.

All Western philosophies begin with logical analysisand end in the conclusion. All Eastern processes beginwith the conclusion and then give the analysis.

As Eastern Masters are compassionate, they do notwant to torture us with all the logic. They give us thefirst option of grasping the solution if we have theintelligence.

If we do not have the intelligence, they have no otheroption but to go into detailed explanation and analysis.

They expect us to transform with just the trust inthem. When they find that we do not have thisqualification in us, they start the regular process.

Here Krishna tries the first method of suddenenlightenment, the immediate liberation, but Arjuna is notmature enough to receive it or comprehend it. So Krishnanow starts the process of explaining it to him step-by-step.

There are two ways in which people react to thesanctity and divinity of Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita.

To one set of people, Krishna has no specialqualification to be called divine and these people may noteven believe in anything such as the Divine. As atheists


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or agnostics, the only way such people can be convincedis initially through the rationale of the dialogue in theGita. The dialogue surpasses anything written in anylanguage at any point in time in its clarity and wisdom.The message of Krishna is universal and timeless. Thosewho do not accept and understand, it just means that asof now it is not their time to accept, understand andtransform.

Laws of Nature do not change just because we do notaccept and understand them. The Earth was always roundand never flat and it revolved always around the sun andnot the other way around, even when the societal leadersdenied these truths and killed thousands of people forexpounding these truths.

There is another class of people who say that there isonly Krishna, who is divine and all other divinemanifestations have no relevance.

One such group of people came to me after I hadspoken about the Gita, very perturbed. They said, ‘Fromwhat you say, we see that you accept the divinity ofKrishna.’ I said, ‘Yes, I very much do. He is thePoornavataara, the complete Incarnation.’

They complained, ‘Then how can you worship Shiva inyour ashram? We believe you have a Dakshinamurtytemple in your Bidadi ashram in India. How can you dothis?’

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I asked them, ‘Have you read the Anu Gita which isalso another part of the Mahabharata?’ They said, ‘No.’

I then explained to them about Anu Gita. After thewar, Arjuna and Krishna are together and Arjuna says,‘Krishna, I do not remember all of what you taught me atKurukshetra, when you delivered to me the Gita. Canyou please enlighten me again?’

Krishna said, ‘Oh, you have forgotten, have you? I toohave forgotten what I then said!’

Arjuna exclaims, ‘Krishna, how is that possible?’

Krishna says, ‘At that point I was Parabrahma Krishna. Iwas Bhagavan. I was the Super Consciousness. I was theDivine. Now, I am Vasudeva Krishna, son of Vasudeva. So,I do not remember what I spoke to you as ParabrahmaKrishna. I shall try and remember.’

What he remembered and recounted was Anu Gita.

Krishna, as Parabrahma Krishna, is the Divine Energy,the formless Brahman, the same as Shiva, Vishnu or Devi.He is the Ultimate Truth, the Puroshottama, as are theseother manifestations of the same Brahman.

It is only the ignorant cows of Krishna who fight withthe equally ignorant monkeys of Rama, forgetting thatRama and Krishna are both the same Energy.

Krishna is no doubt the Poornam, the Whole and theInfinite, as was enunciated in the Upanishads:


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That is Infinite. This is Infinite. From that Infinite arises thisInfinite.

If this Infinite is taken out of that Infinite, Infinite stillremains Infinite.

As the Infinite, the Brahman, Krishna too, is Vishnu,Shiva, and Devi, as well as all other Divinemanifestations.

The Ultimate Energy behind all of them has no nameand no form; that is the truth.

The constant, repetitive reference to Bhagavan in theGita is to emphasize this point that Krishna is not just themere divine charioteer of Arjuna, Parthasarathy, or Kesava,destroyer of the demon Kesin or Madhusudhana, destroyerof the demon Madhu but that He is the ParabrahmaKrishna, the Supreme Energy, who is formless andnameless.

This constant repetition is also to reinforce the conceptthat you too, like Arjuna, are God and no less.

Understanding the divinity of Krishna is a step toaccepting and understanding one’s own divinity. Thatawareness is what liberates. That is why Sankara says inBhaja Govindam, ‘Even a little reading of the BhagavadGita will liberate you from death.’

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Pity is not CompassionQ: You have used the word pity in describing Arjuna’s

state. Some people call it compassionthat does not allow him to fight hiskinsmen. Is there a difference?

There is a huge difference betweenpity and compassion. Pity is what youfeel for someone whom you considerlesser than yourself, such as a beggar.Pity needs an object.

In the dictionary, compassion may beshown with pity as a synonym. It is anexpression of misunderstanding. Most ofus are only capable of pity. Pity arises


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out of ego, one’s identity. We believe that we have toexpress our superiority to others to prove our worth. Pityarises through comparison. You cannot feel pity unlessyou place yourself in a situation that is superior to theperson for whom you feel pity.

Ego breeds violence. Pity has an undertone of violence.Arjuna is in a state of violence. It is his ego that createsthe fear in him about the loss of his identity. That fear ofloss of identity is being expressed as pity or sympathy forhis kinsmen and elders. Arjuna has shifted his focus fromthe inner self to the outer object. That’s all. The fear forhis identity has been hidden and expressed as sympathyfor his opposition.

For pity to become compassion, ego must disappear.Until then any effort at compassion is only hypocrisy.

Compassion needs no object, it just flows.

Only an enlightened Master can express compassion. Itis a natural outpouring of his state. It does not matterwho is in front of him and in what state they are in. AMaster expresses and radiates compassion as his veryenergy.

Compassion is an outcome of expression arising out ofthe experience of boundarylessness. When a personrealizes that he is indeed a part of the universal existenceand that he too is divine, he automatically becomes a partof all the beings that populate this universe. There is a

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natural empathy that reaches out to everyone andeverything around such a person. This is compassion.

Compassion is possible only when one’s ego drops andidentity disappears; compassion is the very opposite ofpity.

Q: Krishna uses the term Arya. People say that Aryanswere invaders of the ancient Indian people? Is that true?

In Sanskrit, the word Arya is used to denote a personof true nobility. It is not merely nobility of birth but theexpression of noble qualities in one’s behavior. This hasnothing to do with any foreign invader.

Recent scientific investigations have shown that therewas no such Aryan invasion of India from European stock.This was misinformation spread by the British colonizersto show the seeds of separation between the inhabitantsin different parts of India. This was their planned strategyto destroy Indian culture.

In fact, they succeeded quite well. For over 60 yearsthis misinformation has turned many people in the Southof India into atheists simply because they associatedreligion with invasion. Just a small part of Tamil Nadu hasmore temples than almost all of the rest of India, andindigenous kings built these places of worship. People


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have been brainwashed to believe that they need to denytheir religion to return to their roots.

Sanatana Dharma, the Vedic science, evolved in manyparts of India simultaneously. Many religions developedfrom this science; Hinduism is one of them. Buddhism,Jainism and other such major religions have their roots inthe same philosophy.

An Aryan is one who has a thorough understanding ofthis Vedic science. An Aryan is one who, by understandingthe tenets of this science, is able to practice them. AnAryan is one who by practicing the truths of this noblescience radiates the noble and enlightened qualitiesthrough his behavior.

Q: Master, why did Krishna choose the battlefield todeliver the great knowledge of Gita?

Krishna delivered the Gita in a battlefield becauseplanet Earth is a battlefield.

Please be very clear: in the last two thousand years ofrecorded history, we have fought more than fivethousand wars. We are not doing anything else exceptfighting wars. The gap between one war and anothercannot be called peace because it is simply preparationtime for the next war!

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You do only one of two things, either fight a war orprepare for the next one. If, in the morning, you go tothe office after a fight with your spouse, you know byevening that other arguments will be ready! This is thereason planet Earth is a battlefield. This is the reasonKrishna chose the battlefield to deliver His message.

There are three game situations on planet Earth – ‘win-win’, ‘win-lose’ and ‘lose-lose’.

‘Win-win’ situation is between the Master and disciple,where the Master wins the disciple and the disciple alsowins enlightenment. Both achieve something and neitherof them loses. The Master does not lose anything as heenjoys the act of giving enlightenment. The disciple toodoes not lose, as he gets enlightenment.

The next one is the ‘win-lose’ scenario. All ourbusinesses are ‘win-lose’ situations. When somebody wins,the other person loses.

The third situation is the worst of all - ‘lose-lose’. Boththe parties lose. The battlefield is a ‘lose-lose’ situationwhere even the so-called winning is not winning. Krishnadelivers the Gita in the battlefield because he gives asolution for the worst situations. Even the worstsituations in life are addressed by the Gita.

The battlefield is indeed the right place to deliver thisspiritual message because if something cannot be used in


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the worst situations, it cannot be taken as the ultimatemessage. If it can be used in the worst situation, you canbe sure that it can be used anywhere else. It is like amaster key. If it can open the most difficult lock, it canopen all other locks. Krishna gives life solutions for theworst situations.

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Surrender is Not Basedon Your Convenience

2.4 Arjuna said:

O killer of Madhu, how can I opposein battle,

Bhishma and Drona, who are worthyof my worship?

2.5 I would rather beg for my foodin this world than kill the most nobleof teachers.

If I kill them, all my enjoyment ofwealth and desires will be stained withblood.


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2.6 I cannot say which is better; their defeating us orus defeating them.

We do not wish to live after slaying the sons ofDhritharashtra who stand before us.

2.7 My heart is overwhelmed with pity and my mindis confused about what my duty is.

I beg of you, please tell me what is best for me. I amyour disciple. Instruct me as I seek refuge in you.

2.8 Even if I were to attain unrivalled dominion andprosperity on Earth or even lordship over the Gods,

How would that remove this sorrow that burns mysenses?

Despite what Krishna had said to him with totalclarity, that Arjuna should get up and fight, Arjuna nowrecounts all his previous arguments. It is as if he had notheard Krishna at all or not heard him right.

He once again implores Krishna, ‘You, as the Lord ofthe Universe, have the right to destroy what you please.You destroyed the demons Madhu and Kesin and youdestroyed many other enemies. You are justified becauseyou are the Lord. How can I, a mere mortal, be boldenough to wage war against my grandfather and myteacher, with the intent to kill them? They are ones I

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should worship, not destroy. I shall be condemned if Ifight them.’

He continues, ‘It is better for me to seek alms as anascetic or even a beggar than to kill these elders. Oncemy hands are stained with their blood what and how canI enjoy worldly pleasures? I am confused as to whichwould be better, for them to slay me or for me to slaythem? How can we live after slaying our kinsmen andelders?’

Arjuna says further, ‘Now I am confused about myduty and have lost all composure because of misery andweakness. I can see no solution to my dilemma. Even if Islay these people and gain control over the Earth, or evencontrol over the heavens, what good will it do to me? Inthis condition, I ask you to tell me for certain what is bestfor me. Now I am your disciple and the soul issurrendered unto you. Please instruct me.’

I must now tell you an important truth. Here Arjunasays, ‘My soul is surrendered unto you.’ This is a lie.

Had his soul been truly surrendered to Krishna, hewould simply have followed what Krishna said andwould not have waited for intellectual explanation.

I have seen many people in the same situation.

A small story, rather a piece of history:

One night around midnight I got a call from one ofour devotees who was a government officer pleading


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for my help from a serious problem. He said that if hecould not have my help, suicide was the onlyalternative for him. I asked him to come thefollowing morning and that we would do whateverhad to be done to take care of his problem. Hehowever insisted on a solution right then.

After going into details about the problem Iassured him that his problem would be taken care ofbut that he should come the following morninganyway, so that the problem could be analyzedproperly and to ensure it did not repeat itself. Hereplied that coming in the morning of the followingday was not possible because he had to go to work!

When he was speaking of his problem, he said his lifeitself was at my feet and that as my disciple he hadsurrendered completely and only I could save him. Butwhen I asked him to come on the following day, he saidhe had to go to office!

Arjuna is in exactly the same position. He says his soulis surrendered to Krishna but when Krishna asks him todo His bidding, he is not ready to do so and isconfused!

Surrender out of confusion is not surrender, as you donot even know if you are doing the right thing.

Understand that surrender after clarity of sastra, orintelligence, is true surrender.

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Here Arjuna surrenders only verbally as he says thathe is confused.

You must either do what you think is right or do asthe Master instructs.

Here Arjuna wants the Master to say what he wants tohear, not what the Master is saying. So, although Arjunasays he has surrendered, he has not done so.

Time and again, people come to me for advice and askme, ‘Master, I have this problem or that problem. Pleaseadvise me what to do. Whatever you tell me I shall do.’Then, if I ask them to come to the ashram for a few daysor attend a meditation course because I know it will helpthem, they give me a dozen reasons why it cannot bedone. They cite all other important tasks that they needto complete before they undertake anything that I suggestto them.

Some even say, ‘Master, the time has to be rightbefore we do that. Perhaps the time is not right.’

Nonsense… simply nonsense! You are all not controlledby some unknown destiny that you conveniently blame,when you cannot do something right, or when you dosomething that is not right. Your destiny is in your ownhands.

An enlightened Master, on the other hand, has nocontrol over what he does. Everything that he does is inthe hands of the universal power, Parashakti.


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I cannot move a little finger or utter a word withoutactive direction of Parashakti, but each one of you, everyone of you, has the power to decide what you want todo. So does Arjuna.

Arjuna is asking Krishna to tell him what he needs todo in the same way that my disciples come and ask me. Ifwhat I tell them is in line with what they want, they willagree. So will Arjuna. Krishna knows this only too well.

However, only out of compassion, Krishna continues toexpress and teach him the Truth. Here begins the sastra.The two verses that Krishna speaks are sutra, techniques.But as Arjuna is not ready to receive them, he has tocommence the sastra, the background knowledge.

An interesting episode happens after the Mahabharatawar is over.

Arjuna and Krishna are walking together. Krishnapoints to a crow sitting on a tree and says, ‘Arjuna,can you see that green crow?’

‘Yes, Krishna!’ replies Arjuna immediately.

They walk a little further. Again Krishna pointsand says, ‘Arjuna, can you see that black crow?’

Again Arjuna responds, ‘Of course, Krishna, I dosee that black crow.’

Krishna laughingly says, ‘Arjuna, you really are afool. When I asked you to see the green crow, yousaid you saw one. How can a crow ever be green?’

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Arjuna said, ‘Krishna, what can I tell you? Whenyou said that the crow was green, what my eyes sawwas indeed a green crow!’

By then Arjuna had truly surrendered to his Master.Not merely intellectually and emotionally, but Arjuna hadsurrendered his very senses to Krishna. He hadsurrendered so fully that when the Master told him thatthe crow was green, what his eyes saw was just that.

At this point Arjuna is not yet in that state. He isconfused. He is in dilemma. He knows that his duty is todefeat his enemies and kill them if needed but hisenemies are his kinsmen, his elders and his teachers. Therelationship, the samskara of his relationship with them,makes him hesitate. Arjuna brings up all that he knowsfrom scriptures, from tradition and from hearsay, doingwhatever he can to avoid the unpleasant decision to fighthis own kith and kin.

Krishna, fully aware of his dilemma, moves forward inhis mission to destroy that identity. The Master is asurgeon who removes the cancer of ego. This is whatKrishna does throughout the Gita dialogue. To giveArjuna credit, he stays through this surgery. Manyweaker men would have run away from the operationtheatre, this battlefield, with no desire to let go of theiridentities. The greatness of Arjuna lies in hisdetermination to listen to his Master and be guided byhim.


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So he implores his Master, ‘Krishna, please tell me whatto do. I am your disciple. You are my refuge.’

It is this readiness to surrender to the Master thatredeems Arjuna and helps him win the war, which inreality is the war within himself.

This is the war that each one of you is fighting eachday, if you are truly aware. This is the war that you needto fight to drop your ego, your mind, and the identitythat binds you to all the bondages upon this Earth.

What ever you think is yours and whatever you thinkis you, is different from the truth.

It is the Master who can lead you through the path ofthis self-discovery, as Krishna is now leading Arjuna.

To be led, you need the attitude of surrender.

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The Master is YourBridge to Divinity

Q: Master, how does the Guru helpthe disciple? What is the process?

The whole Gita is the answer forthis question. The whole Gita is theprocess. It starts with the Masterproviding the intellectual clarity, thengiving the experience, taking thedisciple through the whole path andputting him in the same consciousnessin which the Master lives. The wholeGita explains the process, and if youlisten to it, you will be able to


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understand the whole process. The whole Gita is theanswer to your question.

Guru, the Master, is the link between God andhumanity. Seeing the state of the Master, the disciple getsencouraged to feel that he too can elevate himself to thatlevel and that he too can aspire. That is why time andagain I tell you all, I am not here to prove my divinity; Iam here to prove your divinity.

The very mission of a guru is to remove the layer ofignorance that surrounds you, which prevents you fromseeing your own divine nature. That is what the wordguru means; it means, leading from darkness to light,from ignorance to wisdom, to the wisdom of who youreally are.

The guru can assist with a glance, with a touch, with aword, without a word, in many ways, to gift his graceupon you. This is what is referred to as diksha orinitiation. This is the process of bestowing his grace uponthe initiate. All that the disciple needs to do is to acceptwith an open mind. But, that is the difficult part.

The Original Sin that the Old Testament refers to isthe loss of memory of their divine nature by Adam andEve. It is a sin that a Master can rectify. He can restoreyou to your divine nature, if you let him.

This is what Krishna does for Arjuna through thecourse of His teaching in the Gita. He listens to Arjunapatiently, answers his questions, clarifies his doubts,

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chides him as needed and finally reveals to him His owntrue form.

The nature of the guru is compassion. He is notsatisfied until the disciple is liberated. The only way forliberation is the destruction of all ego. That is the painfulpart. The process therefore becomes a surgery, with theMaster as the Master Surgeon. The disciple who has thewisdom to realize this, undergoes the surgery and realizeshimself.

Q: When will Gita be accepted universally as ascripture?

There is a book written by Dr. David Hawkins, arenowned Psychiatrist, about a system that evaluates theabsolute truth of a scripture or a person through ascientifically validated system. In this, he rates the Gita atthe highest level of truth.

When you are open to the truths propounded in theGita, they penetrate your being with an energy that noother literature can match. That is why I call the Gita asastra, stotra and sutra; a scripture of wisdom, a devotionalbook and a book of techniques, all combined in one.

There is an ancient Chinese book called I Ching thatpeople in China use as a guide. They either open a pageat random or use sticks to generate the page number to


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obtain an answer to the problem that troubles them. Theyuse it as a book of predictions. Many Christians use theBible in this manner. Gita can be used in a similar way.The Gita will answer any and all of your questions. It isthe ultimate book of truth.

Q: Why is Krishna wasting His time with Arjuna?Again and again Arjuna is coming up with the samequestions. Obviously Arjuna does not have what it takesto understand the truth.

Arjuna is not only the representation of all of humanityin the Mahabharata and Gita, but he is also a prince.

As a human being Arjuna has all the weaknesses thatall of us possess in body and mind. These are theweaknesses, the conditioned memories or samskaras thatare being released, as he is in dialogue with Krishna. Thisis the reason why Krishna is so patient with Arjuna. Theentire humanity is in need of the compassion of theMaster.

As a prince and warrior, Arjuna is ego incarnate. Thereis a saying in Tamil, and I am sure in other languagestoo, that only when a fruit is ripe it can fall. Unless theego is ripe it cannot be dropped. People who practicehumility without understanding will carry negative egowith them and it will be impossible to drop it.

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A small story:

Birbal was a very wise man, a minister in thecourt of the great Mogul emperor Akbar.

One day Akbar asked Birbal to bring the fourbiggest fools of the kingdom to him.

Birbal started looking for fools. He saw a mancarrying a large plate on his head. It had someclothes, food and toys. Birbal asked the man where hewas going. The man said that he was taking this tohis wife who had left him, remarried and now has achild from her new husband. These were gifts for thechild.

Birbal was happy to find this fool to take toAkbar.

The next day Birbal saw a man traveling with adonkey, the man carrying a bundle of grass on hishead. Birbal asked him why he was holding thebundle instead of tying it to the donkey. The mansaid that his donkey was pregnant so he did not wantto overload the animal!

Birbal was happy to find another fool to take toAkbar.

The next morning Birbal took both these men toAkbar and introduced them, describing how he foundthem. Akbar asked: I told you to bring four fools.Where are the other two?


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With folded hands Birbal said: Sire, The third foolbrought you the two fools. The fourth asked forthem!

Akbar was a wise and humorous man. He laughedand sent all of them away with gifts. He was a kingwho had everything except ego.

A prince has all the powers to do anything he wishes.When he decides to drop his mind he will apply the sameenergy and the same focus to this effort as he does toevery other undertaking in his life. Some of the mostcelebrated sages of our ancient culture were kings likeJanaka. When a king detaches himself from the outcomeand focuses on the path and process, there can be no onemore powerful.

Krishna is exemplifying humanity and the select classof humanity through Arjuna.

Q: You have been critical of philosophers. Isn’t it a bitunfair? There have been many great philosophers whohave contributed highly to human consciousness.

When philosophers contribute to enhancement ofhuman consciousness, they are no longer philosophers;they become teachers and sages.

You may think I am playing with words but I am not.From time immemorial you will find two classes of

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scholars; one, who taught based on their inner and outerexperience, with deep honesty and respect for the otherperson. Then there were those whose teachings andwritings were based partially on reading others andpartially on observing others. They had no internalizationof what they read or observed and they had no innerexperience of what they propounded. I call this latter classof scholars as philosophers.

To observe others partially and selectively requires nointelligence. One has already formed a hypothesis; one hasalready made a judgment. All that one does is to collectevidence to support that hypothesis and judgment. If onefinds any evidence to the contrary, those are ignored.Most modern research works seem to be done this way.That is why there is so much controversy in the academicfield.

Freud declared that man is unhappy by nature. This isbecause he never met any enlightened Master, norperhaps, was he interested in meeting one. He hadalready made up his mind that all humans were unhappyand his mission was to collect evidence to prove this.Freud’s colleague and friend, Carl Jung came to India,heard about Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi, the greatenlightened sage, but did not meet him. He lateradmitted that he was scared to meet this blissfulenlightened Master for fear that his hypothesis and life’swork would be demolished!


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Rene Descartes, the renowned French philosopher,single handedly established the Western philosophy ofrationalism. ‘I think, therefore I am,’ he said. It is a pitythat an intelligent man like him did not want to godeeper and understand that it is only when you stopthinking that you understand who you are. Until thenyou are a mere plaything in the hands of your mind. Youare the slave of your mind, not its master. What is thereto be proud of in being a slave?

All these philosopher scholars had only one objective,which was to prove how intelligent they were. They weredriven by their ego, not by any desire to benefithumanity. The odd exceptions were men like Socrateswho were willing to sacrifice their own lives for theirconvictions. Such people surely enhanced humanconsciousness and are to be ranked as sages.

Q: When Arjuna says that he cannot attack his reveredteachers like Drona and Bhishma is he not saying whatneeds to be said by any intelligent and righteous person?

You are right. That is the reason why Arjuna sayswhat he says.

Arjuna knows that he will be evaluated at a laterperiod by humanity based on his behavior towards hiselders and teachers. People will say, ‘What kind of a

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person was this? He claimed to be a noble and righteousprince and great warrior and yet he went ahead andkilled his teachers.’ Arjuna is trying to protect himself, hisreputation, his name and fame; he is protecting hisidentity. He is issuing a disclaimer: ‘I am not responsiblefor killing my teachers. I said so in public. This Krishnamade me kill them.’

If Arjuna truly had such respect for his elders andteachers, he would not have come as far as thebattlefield. In fact, Yudhishtra never wanted to fight. Hewas persuaded to fight by his brothers. His brotherswanted vengeance. Draupadi wanted to be avenged.Arjuna wanted the kingdom. Had Arjuna been aware andconscious he would have done one of two things; eitherhe would not have come into the battlefield or he wouldhave attacked his enemies without any mercy. Here hestands confused, torn between greed and fear. Arjuna isjust being human.

Metaphorically speaking, Arjuna, like all of us, isbound by his conditioning of respect towards elders andteachers. Bheeshma represents the samskaras towardselders, and Drona represents the samskaras towardsteachers. Both these samskaras need to be destroyed beforehe can move towards the ultimate truth. As long as oneis ruled by this conditioning of elders and teachers, it isimpossible to find one’s own truth. Truth conveyed byanyone else, even an enlightened Master, must beinternalized through one’s own experience before it can


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become one’s own truth. Even a Master can only guide;he can light the lamp to drive out the ignorance; but therealization must happen within oneself.

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Time is Psychological, NotChronological

2.9 Sanjaya said:

Arjuna then said to Krishna,‘Govinda, I shall not fight,’ and fellsilent.

2.10 Krishna, smilingly spoke thefollowing words to the grief-strickenArjuna, as they were placed in themiddle of both armies.


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2.11 Bhagavan said:

You grieve for those that should not be grieved for andyet, you speak words of wisdom.

The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead.

2.12 It is not that at anytime in the past I did notexist; so did you and these rulers exist,

And we shall not ever cease to be hereafter.

2.13 Just as the spirit in this body passes throughchildhood, youth and old age,

So does it pass into another body; the man centeredwithin himself does not fear this.

Even though it is written here in the past tense, I feelKrishna should always be addressed in the present tense.He is still relevant to each of us today. We cannot say,‘Krishna was’ but ‘Krishna is’; not ‘Krishna said’ but‘Krishna says’.

Once again, having lamented about what he is beingforced to do, and not wishing to do what he is expectedto do, Arjuna, like a petulant child sits down saying, ‘Iam not going to fight.’ It is as if Arjuna is waiting to bepersuaded.

He is seeking an explanation.

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Krishna says to him gently and smilingly, ‘Whilespeaking learned words, you are mourning for what isnot worthy of grief. Those who are wise lament neitherfor the living nor for the dead.’

Again, Krishna addresses the issue directly, ‘O Arjuna!You speak as if you are intelligent, enlightened. You speakthe words without having experienced them. Therefore,your words do not carry conviction.

Your emotion, your being, shows that you are notenlightened, that you have not understood, that you havenot experienced. A truly enlightened person will neverworry for the living or the dead.’

If you worry for somebody living or dead, you cannotbe an intelligent person. What is death and life after all?There are thousands, rather millions, who have lived andgone.

Someone once asked me, ‘Why is it that naturalcalamities happen? Why is it that so many people die inwars and calamities? Why is God doing these things andwhy is God being mean?’

I told him, ‘To give you an honest answer, I do notknow. But if you insist on an answer, I can give you ananswer the next time God calls for a conference. I can askHim to give me an answer!’

These questions have no answer in Existence. Thequestion is asked from a very low level, from your logic,but God is beyond your logic.


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You can never have an answer for these questions.

For example, a small ant asks the elephant, ‘Why areyou as dark as I am? How is it that we both have thesame color skin?’ Will the elephant be able to answer?The elephant will not even know that it is being askedthis question. He will not even be aware of the ant or it’squestion!

Likewise, it is important to understand the rules ofExistence, of the Divine.

Only the ignorant worry about people who are livingor dead. A truly intelligent person does not bother aboutdeath.

Often people ask me, ‘How was the universe created?Was it by Brahma, as Hindu scriptures say? Or was itcreated in six days by a nameless God as the OldTestament would have us believe?’

I say to them what Buddha said thousands of years agobased on his personal perception. ‘The universe,’ Buddhasaid, ‘has neither been created nor will it ever bedestroyed. It always has been.’

The universe created itself. It is the creation thatembodies the creator and results in what has beencreated. The universe is the ultimate expression of thenon-dual advaitic experience, in which the experiencemerges with the experiencer and the experienced.

Our questions regarding the ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ ofwhat happens around us arise only when they threaten us

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in some manner or another. These questions, these issuesabout the morality of the universe, spring forth when ourego is threatened, when our identity is threatened, whenour life is threatened.

Every person stricken with an incurable and fatalaffliction such as cancer, would invariably ask thequestion, ‘Why me?’ If it is a young child, then certainlythe parents, relatives and friends are bound to questionthe justice and fairness of God.

What do we know about the fairness of God? Whatdo we know at all about God? All we know and careabout is our own welfare. All we wish is to be secure inthe comforts of our own wellbeing and that of our nearand dear ones. Any concern about the rest of humanity isonly after one’s own comfort zone is managed.

The creator is also the destroyer. What is created willbe destroyed. We have no agreement with God that whenwe are born we will be assured of so many years of lifealong with the knowledge of the timing and nature ofour death. We are born into this world with noawareness of why we are here. We will also die with noawareness of when and how. The truth is that simple.We have no birthright to all this information. Birth itselfis not our right!

When you truly realize your Self, when you areenlightened, you will be aware of when you will die andhow you will die. It will then make no difference to youwhether your body is alive or dead. Living and dying


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are no longer issues in which you feel you need to play apart. They are progressions of nature and beingenlightened, you flow with nature.

We are just playing with words when we talk aboutkarma and destiny, saying that they are responsible foreverything that happens to us and for everything that wedo.

Let me tell you this: We are responsible for whathappens to us. We are responsible for what we do. It isa misrepresentation of nature’s law to blame nature forwhat happens to us.

Earthquakes and tsunamis occur because man hasplundered nature. Looking for oil and minerals, we havedrilled holes tens of thousands of meters into the bowelsof the Earth, on land and in the ocean. We haveruthlessly destroyed forests and hills. We have drilledholes through the ozone layer in search of our comfortzone. Then we wonder why nature misbehaves. Natureonly behaves, She never misbehaves.

Nature does not guarantee that the person who createshavoc and destroys is the one to suffer in that body.Nature is patient and all knowing. Nature’s law strikeswithout fear or favor. What one generation does todestroy nature may visit upon another generation. Fromnature’s standpoint we never die. We just disappear andreappear. In whichever scene we reappear, we still bearresponsibility for what we have done in an earlier scene.

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That’s why questions of why a ten-year-old should dieor contract cancer have neither meaning nor relevance.The ten-year-old is only the reappearance of someonewho has been here before and probably will reincarnateto be here again. We are not normally aware of what onehas done before and what one is therefore responsible for.

Some people question, ‘Is it fair that we are heldresponsible for what we did in another lifetime and arenot even aware of now?’

Who said anything about fairness? What do we knowof fairness except what we determine what is fair out ofour own selfishness? It is possible to be conscious of whatone has done in previous births; it is even possible tohave a conscious birth, coming into this world fullyconscious and aware. Before that happens, we need todrop our ego and merge with nature. We need tosurrender our existence to nature. When we do so, natureresponds and opens up.

Sanjaya says Krishna was smiling as He uttered thesewords. Krishna must have been laughing at Arjuna. ‘Youfool, you pretend to be wise and quote the scriptures.Who do you think you are quoting the scriptures to?What can you understand of what I, Myself have said?’

Krishna continues: ‘Never was there a time when I didnot exist or you and all these kings, and never in thefuture shall any of us cease to be.’

With this verse begins the essence of the whole Gita.


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This is the gist of the whole Gita. This is atmagnana,Self Realization. If you can understand this one verse, youcan become enlightened straightaway and enter intoeternal bliss.

Krishna says there was never a time when I, you andall the kings did not exist. If you think our souls will alsodie with our bodies, you are wrong. We were therebefore our birth and this death and will remain afterdeath. It is not true that any of us will not be in thefuture.

In Zen Buddhism there is a beautiful meditationtechnique to achieve enlightenment.

You are asked to meditate on the face you had beforeyour birth. The koan or sutra, a technique for meditationsays, ‘What was your face like before your father andmother were born?’

Upon meditating on this koan you realize that youexisted in the past, exist in the present and will exist inthe future. Your face and body may change but youcontinue to exist. Then why do we think we will die andwhy do we fear death? If what Krishna says is true, whyare we worried about this life and about death? You needto first understand the concept of the past, present andfuture to enable you to understand what Krishna says.

Let me explain this concept first.

Time is like a shaft continuously moving from thefuture on the right into the past on the left. The future is

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on your right and the past is on your left. The future iscontinuously moving into the past; every moment andevery second it is turning into the past. The present is thepoint where the future and the past meet. Your mind assuch is nothing but movements between the past and thefuture.

You cannot have any thoughts if you stop thinkingabout the past and the future. Your thoughts consist ofnothing but the constant movements between past andthe future. The more your thoughts shift from past tofuture or future to past, the higher the frequency ofthoughts. The less you shift from past to future or future

to past, less thenumber of thoughts.Try to think ofsomething in thepresent, you will findthat you cannot. Youcan think of it only bytaking it into the pastor future. You areeither worrying aboutthe future orremembering the past.

The higher thefrequency of thoughts,the more you arecaught in the physicaland material world.


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For example, if you have 100 Thoughts Per Second(TPS), it means you have jumped 100 times between thepast and future back and forth in one second. If you have80 TPS, it means you have jumped that many timesbetween these two dimensions. The higher the frequency,the more you will be away from the present. The higherthe frequency of thoughts, the more worries and problemsyou have. If the number of thoughts reduces, you fall intothe present moment.

When your frequency of thoughts is high, you are inthe physical body or the annamaya kosha. When thefrequency is a little less, you move into a higher energylayer called praanamaya kosha. When your TPS is say 60(here the reference is just proportional), you move intothe mental layer or manomaya kosha or the next layer –pleasure layer or the vignanamaya kosha; you come a littleclose to the atman. If you fall in the present moment,you are in the inner most layer, that is the anandamayakosha; you are atman or the soul.

The past, present and future, all the three put togetherare eternal, nithya or atman. Only when you come to thepresent moment do you experience atman – your trueSelf, but as of now you are constantly shuttling betweenthe past and future.

The Upanishads talk of these five body layers. Thevignanamaya kosha is where the TPS is still less, say 40.When your TPS is very low, say 20, you come to theanandamaya kosha.

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When the number of thoughts reduces, you will noteven be aware of the passage of time. For example, whenyou are with someone you love, even two or three hourswill seem like a short while. On the contrary, when youare with someone whose company is boring, even a shorttime seems very long. You will keep glancing at yourwatch and wondering why time does not move!

Time is more psychological than chronological. That iswhy, in our scriptures or Vedas, we have the word kshanato describe the unit of time. Kshana does not denote onesecond, but is defined as the gap or time intervalbetween two thoughts. The larger the kshana, or the gapbetween two thoughts, the more in the present we are.Each perso

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