ॐ SAI RAM SWAMI S GITA FOR CHILDREN

Transcription

1 ॐ SAI RAM SWAMI S GITA FOR CHILDREN CHAPTER 1 1. Dhritarashtra, Please tell me, O Sanjaya, what my sons and those of my brother Pandu are about to do on the battlefield in Kurukshetra? 2. Sanjaya: O King! Your eldest son Prince Duryodhana is approaching Battle Commander Dronacharya, the Guru of your sons as well as the Pandavas. I can now see Duryodhana speaking to Dronacharya. He says: O Master! Please take a good look at our brave army with so many renowned warriors. They have come from different places to support us and to fight for us. Please Sir, make sure that venerable Bhisma, our Commander-in-Chief, is well protected, at all cost. 3. Sanjaya And now, all the great warriors on the two sides are blowing their respective conches, signalling their readiness to commence battle. I can also see Krishna and Arjuna blowing their conches. Arjuna is seated in a chariot with Krishna Himself acting as the charioteer. Flying from that chariot is a standard bearing the figure of Hanuman. 4. Arjuna is now telling Krishna: Krishna, please drive the chariot to a spot midway between the two armies. I want to get a close look at our enemies, the evil Kauravas. 5. Sanjaya: Krishna drives the chariot to the midway region as requested by Arjuna and says, Krishna: There, Arjuna, take a good look at your adversaries. 6. Sanjaya : Arjuna slowly surveys the warriors assembled on the two sides. And what does he see? Nothing but his grandfather, his teachers, his cousins and various other relatives, his friends and so on. Some are lined up on one side and the rest on the other. Arjuna is deeply troubled by what he is seeing and says: Arjuna: Krishna, as I look around me, I see nothing but kith and kin. Do I have to kill people of my own blood for the sake of a mere kingdom? No Krishna, I cannot slaughter my friends, relatives and elders. What pleasure can there be in such killing? What benefit? On the contrary, it is a sin to win a kingdom after butchering one s own people. Maybe the Kauravas are blinded by greed and want to wage war but I do not have to do so. I do not have to be blinded similarly by greed, jealousy and all the rest of it. I just cannot fight. It is better that my enemies strike me than I kill them. 7. Reporting all this, Sanjaya tells Dhirtarashtra, I can now see Arjuna dropping his bow and sinking into his chariot, filled with deep anguish. 1

2 CHAPTER 2 1. Sanjaya continues and tells Dhritarashtra: Krishna is now beginning to say something to Arjuna, who appears to be drowned in sorrow. 2. Krishna: Arjuna, how come you have suddenly become so remorseful at this very last minute? You can t quit now; it is too late for that! You must cast aside your doubts and misgivings. Get up and enter into battle! 3. Arjuna: Krishna, how is that possible? Bhisma over there is my grandfather! Are You asking me to shoot arrows at my own grandfather who has showered so much love on me? And over there is my Guru, Dronacharya? How can one kill one s own Guru? Can there be a greater sin? Frankly Krishna, I cannot see any great purpose in this war. I am very confused at present. To fight or not to fight that is my question! Krishna, I seek refuge in You. Totally surrendering to You, I pray to You for guidance. 4. With a broad smile on His face, Krishna: Arjuna, you are acting like a perfect fool! You are mourning the death of your relatives etc., even before they have died! Do you know anything about life, death, and what happens after death? You obviously do not, for if you did, you would not be chickening out like you are trying to do now. Let Me drive some hard facts into your thick skull! Arjuna, your big problem is that like everyone else, you think you are the body. You are also used to seeing bodies being born and die. Since all these images have got stuck in your Mind, you are now worrying about death. Now listen to this carefully. Neither you nor I are the body, though we both possess them. I wear My body like a dress and so do you. Now who is this I that is wearing the body? It is the Atma Arjuna, it is the Atma! By the way, there is no such thing as My Atma, your Atma and so on. It is the same Atma that is present everywhere, wearing many dresses. There is only one Atma, period. Let us examine your problem a bit deeper. You say that Bhishma is your grandfather. That is true but don t forget that the relationship is purely one of the body. Next, even though Bhishma is your grandfather, he has lined up with the forces of evil. In fact, he is the Commander-in-Chief of the wicked Kauravas. Now tell Me; what should be your duty? Can you walk away claiming that Bhisma is your grandpa or should you stand up to the forces of evil and defeat them in battle? 2

3 The answer is clear, is it not? Arjuna, in life duty must always be performed, without any trace whatsoever of attachment or selfishness. In practical terms, you must discharge your duty without a) being bothered about the outcome, and b) expecting a reward. That really is what Atma Dharma is all about. Only a selfish person would worry about success, rewards, etc. That attitude is not correct. Duty for duty s sake is the proper attitude. Arjuna, there are two words that people often use rights and responsibility. In the olden days, people always worried about responsibility and duty but these days people mostly talk about their rights. They constantly say, I have a right to do this, I have a right to do that, and so on. Let Me make one thing very clear. Man has a right only to duty and nothing else! 5. Arjuna: Krishna, you make Atma Dharma sound so simple. If it is as simple as all that how come in this wide world there is hardly anyone who is truly following Atma Dharma? 6.Krishna: 6.1 That is because people get easily deluded by the senses and the Mind. These two in unholy collusion prevent a person from looking deep within himself and communing with the Heart. Once a person gets cutoff from the Indweller, his outlook and vision become purely external. The outside world is full of what is called the pair of opposites like joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, success and failure, and so on. 6.2 A person immersed in the external world is easily overwhelmed by six terrible enemies that are deadlier than the deadliest serpents. These enemies are: Kama meaning desires, Krodha meaning anger, Lobha meaning greed, Moha meaning attachment, Mada meaning pride, and Matsarya meaning jealousy. To these you may add 2 more namely, Ahamkara meaning ego and Mamakara meaning the mine feeling. 6.3 Arjuna, take it from Me, unless you keep out these enemies and have full control of yourself, you cannot fight your external enemies, as you have to do shortly. Do you want to know why these internal enemies have to be vanquished first? Simple; you would agree that when you have to deal with a crisis, you have to remain cool, wouldn t you? 6.4 Now what exactly does remaining cool mean? It means that you should not be disturbed or be bothered by what is happening around you. It is only when you are cool that you can think clearly. And unless you can think clearly you cannot really handle a crisis properly. Agree? 3

4 A good leader must not lose his cool. This characteristic does not come easily, unless one makes a conscious effort to practice detachment. One who is detached is automatically unaffected by success and failure, joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain. There is one word that describes such an attitude equanimity. 6.5 Arjuna, equanimity is necessary not only for a so-called leader but for everyone. In a family, the father is a leader. So, equanimity is needed for the father. What about the children? They had better start copying their father and learn to get into that groove from an early age! Above all, equanimity it is that helps the seeker to rise above the world, rise above the pairs of opposites, and go towards God. In life, you don t see much of equanimity. Why? Because the internal enemies make sure that you are not strong enough to practice equanimity that is why! Take your own case; you want to run away from duty. Why? Because of attachment. Arjuna, the feeling of mine and thine is one of the many weaknesses that one must overcome. Never forget that perfection in duty is possible only when there is equanimity. And duty performed with perfection would please God very much. You too would feel very happy about having pleased God. This kind of happiness is unique, and it is called Bliss. 6.6 Arjuna, what people normally call pleasure, joy, happiness, etc., are all connected with experiences of the sense organs and the Mind. This joy can never be re-experienced through recall. Such happiness is always transient. By contrast, the happiness that you get by pleasing God is an experience of the Heart; it goes beyond the senses and the Mind. That is why the joy of this experience can be recalled and relived any number of times. Every time you recall, you will experience Bliss in all its freshness. Equanimity does not come easily, and requires a lot of practice in regulating the senses and the Mind. It may not be easy but with determination, it can be achieved. Patience and perseverance alone lead to Purity! 6.7 Arjuna, you must be brave and courageous not only in the worldly sense but also in a spiritual sense. A spiritually brave man is one who is ready to give up even his life for being true to his Conscience. He is not afraid of anything or anybody, including death. Internal enemies that I mentioned earlier shudder to come near such a man. What I mean is that you must be strong and courageous inside before starting to fight battles outside. 6.8 If the internal enemies gain the upper hand and begin to dominate you, then there will be nothing but pure disaster. Take anger for example. Anger can blind reason. You may be the smartest man on earth, but when blind fury gets hold of you, you can become dumber than the greatest fool. Fury blunts discrimination, and when that happens, judgement falters badly; next step, total ruin. This has happened time and again, innumerable number of times. But people don t want to learn from the bitter experience of others. Don t you make that mistake. 6.9 To put it all briefly, follow your Conscience for your Conscience is your true Master. Then you can easily face the devil, fight him, and finish him off! Follow the Master Face the Devil and Finish the Game 6.10 A person who is not cool will not be at Peace. Peace is inside and not outside! A person who feels Peace inside will experience Bliss. And a person in a Blissful state would radiate Peace in his neighbourhood. This is how Peace can be brought on earth. Someone must get the ball rolling. It is like lighting many candles with one candle. 4

5 6.11. A flower is beautiful. But it also radiates fragrance. In the same way, Shanti is inside; when it spreads outside like the fragrance of the flower, it becomes Prashanti! Arjuna, what I am telling you now is not merely practical advice related to fighting this battle ahead of you. It has deep inner significance because it is related to fighting life s battles A man who has vanquished internal enemies becomes a pure and elevated being. And when such a person finally leaves his body, he merges once and for ever with God. No more rebirths for him because he is merged in God, and is ever in a Blissful state. Remember true happiness is total and complete union with God! CHAPTER 3 1. Arjuna :- Krishna, I am totally confused. On the one hand you are asking me to act, to get up and to fight. At the same time, you are also asking me to look inside, develop discrimination and become wise. How can I do both? If I have to act, I can t be spending time looking inside. On the other hand if I start looking inside, I am sure I would get lost there! In which case, how would I be able to act? How would I be able to fight, as You are asking me to do? Therefore, please tell me clearly, which of these two paths is better and where exactly do they lead? 2. Krishna:- (smiles ) Arjuna, this is what they call a good question! Let Me, to start with, making two things very clear:- (i) The two paths as you call them, are called respectively the Path of Action or Karma Yoga and the path of Wisdom or Sankhya Yoga. (ii) Both these lead to the same goal, namely Eternal Bliss and freedom from rebirth You are possibly wondering how that could be possible, since these two paths seem to be so very different. That is what I shall now explain Let Me start with the so-called Path of Action. When I ask you to follow the Path of Action it does not mean that I am asking you to become a workaholic, go-getter and things like that. I mean something very different First and foremost, a person dedicated to the Path of Action accepts the role Destiny has carved out for him and does his best in that role. Now take your own case. You are born a soldier, a warrior. The duty of a soldier is to fight for Dharma. That is what you must do, and not run away talking like a Sannyasi, as you were in fact trying to do a short while ago Next, you must plunge into action with perfect calmness. You must always be cool and unperturbed; in other words, you must be the very embodiment of equanimity Further, the action that you perform must be done as a sacred duty. Action becomes sacred only when duty is performed for duty s sake and not for personal gains and ends. You should never calculate about success and failure or dream about the benefits that would come to you if you were to act in a particular way. This is called Nishkaama Karma 5

6 2.7. If it is destined that you should fail in whatever it is that you are trying to do, accept that outcome calmly as the Will of God. Let us say there is a person who is very sick, and that a doctor is treating the patient. The doctor cannot say, This fellow is going to die anyway so why bother? He must do his VERY BEST and leave the rest to God. And whatever happens, he should calmly accept that as the Will of God. With God s Grace, the patient may even pull through. For your information, this has happened any number of times By the way Arjuna, don t ever get the idea that God causes failure. Things may not exactly happen the way you want things to happen but that does not mean that the effort is a failure. You see God always knows what is best, and if He has postponed what you regard as success, it is with good reason. In the meanwhile, do not jump to the conclusion that there has been a failure Arjuna, two important points must be noted concerning action:- (i) no one can be perfectly still and stay away from action. You talked of the Wise as if they did not engage in action. This is not correct. Don t the Wise eat, walk, bathe, etc.? Are these not actions? (ii) there is action everywhere in the Universe. In fact a static Universe where nothing ever happens is impossible! Up there in the heavens the Sun shines, the planets move about and so on. All this is Divinely-ordained action If you examine carefully, there are generally two aspects to action, that of receiving and that of giving. In fact, in all cases except that of man, the giving is much more than the receiving. Just consider the example of the tree and examine how much it receives and how much it gives. This one example ought to convince you of the truth of My statement. The tree is really a fine example because in the end it gives its entire self up Arjuna, the key principle on which the Universe functions is sacrifice. That one word says it all. That is why at the time of Creation God told man, You can prosper only if you sacrifice People imagine that sacrifice means giving up something valuable or giving away something precious, something that you would very much like to keep for yourself. This is a very limited interpretation of the word sacrifice. I use that word in a larger sense. I would in fact prefer to use the word offering in place of the word sacrifice Here I should caution you about what happens when the key principle is misunderstood and followed in a mistaken fashion. For example, many people think they should give charity so that they can go to heaven. This is wrong. When charity is given this way, the giver of charity starts feeling he is superior to the one receiving. Giving should not at all be done that way. One must give as a loving offering to a brother, who also is a child of God. In other words, the spirit must be one of sharing and caring, and not of condescension, and without any expectations of any kind from anybody The people who give charity and food to beggars with the idea of booking a seat in heaven are really trying to make a business deal! God is so kind that He may even reserve a seat in heaven for such people. But Arjuna, God should not be trivialised like this by asking Him for trinkets! You may be a businessman but God is not. Remember that! 3. Arjuna:- Well, how then should one relate to God? 6

7 4. Krishna:- The answer is simple. Look upon God as your Father, Mother, Guru, and even Friend. Are you surprised? You should not be because God is the only true Friend you can have. All others would make themselves scarce when you need assistance and help most. God is not like that. On the contrary, it is in those dire moments that He would be closest to you. Also, do whatever you are doing for God s pleasure For example, right now I am asking you to fight. When you start fighting say, God, I offer this duty I am doing as a soldier to You. Please accept it as my loving offering to You! I want nothing in return but Your Grace and Love Everyone can make an offering to God in this manner, including a cobbler. Are you wondering how the cobbler ought to pray? Simple. He should just say, Lord, in Your Cosmic Drama You have given me this particular role. My prayer to You is that:- a) I do my job to the best of my ability, and b) my slippers bring comfort and satisfaction to the buyer, who is none other than You in disguise. When my customer is satisfied, it means that You are satisfied! 4.4. So you see how perfection combined with selflessness can readily sanctify action. Every act without exception, including the smallest, can be sanctified in this manner Take food. You are able to eat on account of God s Grace and not because of your salary. But for God s Grace, you would be jobless and hungry. Having received food as Divine Grace, how do you express your gratitude to God? By sharing your food with someone else. Give some food first to a starving soul, see him happy, and then eat. That would fill you also with happiness Arjuna, it is a sin to eat without first sharing your food with some other person. Suppose no one is available; no problem. Share it with some birds or even ants. In any case, you can always offer the food first to God. In fact this is a must I would say When you so offer, say a simple prayer, O God, who is in me and taking care of me all the time in a thousand different ways that I am not even aware of, I offer this food to You, my Indweller. Please accept No Arjuna, this is not a gimmick. It is an attitude of Mind that reflects the virtues of the Heart. See God everywhere and try to please Him with all the actions that you perform. God does not expect anything special from you. He would be extremely happy if you transform your duty into devotion and work into worship by following My simple formula. 5. Arjuna :- Krishna, all this is fine, but what has it got to do with the Path of Action and the Path of Wisdom that You were telling me about? 6. Krishna:-, Arjuna, that is precisely is what I am coming to now. When your Mind is full of thoughts of God and your Heart is immersed in God, you would automatically become Wise! Yad Bhavam, Tat Bhavati. As you feel, so you become. Think of God who is the Embodiment of Knowledge all the time, and you automatically become Wise yourself that s all! Thus, for the man on the Path of Action, the three steps are: Work- Worship- Wisdom Let Me now tell you something about the man who is following the Path of Wisdom. 7

8 6.3 Such a man is inward-looking, that is to say, for him the world is essentially inside.what does this man find inside? He sees God seated in his Heart. He sees the Heart as the symbol of Perfection and Absolute Purity. He sees God seething with Love. Becoming absorbed in that Love, he gets charged with it So charged is he with Love, that when he starts looking out into the world, he sees only Love everywhere. To him, nothing outside is bad, though ordinary mortals might see some things as good and others as bad. This man is above all such duality The inward-looking man is one of Wisdom stithapragnya. He might seem a strange person to ordinary people, but he is neither strange nor mad. He is his True Self and in his Natural State, the State of Bliss. If at all he is mad, he is mad about God. But then Arjuna, tell Me who in this world is not mad? Some are mad about money, some about power, some about position and so on. Compared to all these types of madness, is not being mad about God much better? 6.6. The Wise are always in a State of Bliss. At times, they might appear to be in a trance. At times, they would be happily singing to themselves or rather the God within, and at times they would be just dancing with joy! Obviously such people are very rare, about one in a billion or so, but believe Me, they do exist. 7. Arjuna :- Krishna, the way You describe, these Wise men as You call them, appear to live in their own world and have nothing whatsoever to do with the world we ordinary mortals live in. Is that true? 8. Krishna (smiles):- Well Arjuna, really speaking, the Wise do not have duties to perform in the sense you have. You have to perform duty in order to attain fulfilment. This they achieve in an entirely different way. Yet, in their own way, the Wise too act and serve in this world. 9. Arjuna:- But how? 10. Krishna:- Let Me explain. By their very nature, the Wise radiate Peace. They have a captivating aura of Supreme Calm about them. They are ever smiling. Troubled souls therefore go to such people to have their Darshan, and when they do so, they feel at peace themselves, at least for a while. Is not applying the balm of Shanti a service? How many people are there in this troubled world who can render such service? Shining with the Effulgence of Love, speaking softly, gently and soothingly, is also service, in fact extremely valuable service. Thus, the Wise act as Lighthouses in a stormy world. Baba says speak softly and sweetly. Even if you cannot oblige speak obligingly Arjuna, just look at Me. I am the Lord and Master of the Three Worlds. Verily, I have no duties to perform. And yet, donning a human form, I am engaged in service to humanity all the time. Don t you see? Right now, I am driving your chariot? Is this really My job? Why do I serve when I really don t have to? To set an example Arjuna, to set an example. Got it? Baba says My Life is My Message! And My policy is to Love All and Serve All!! (songs) 8

9 10.3. Supposing I did not do what I am doing. Do you know what would happen? People would start saying, Look, God in human Form is not bothered about action. May be that is what God wants of us too! Imagine what would happen to the world if people start abandoning their duties. It is to prevent this disaster that I perform duties, though in reality I have none to perform Inaction is bad and laziness is rust and dust. It is to teach that lesson that I always keep Myself busy doing something or the other, of course always for the benefit of others. I never do anything that would bring advantage to Me personally. Selfless Love is My Guiding Principle, every second of My life So, Arjuna, I hope after all this lengthy explanation, you have understood that the Paths of Action and of Wisdom are not two disjointed options; just that they represent two different starting points for reaching the same goal. Some start from Action and then progress to Wisdom while others attain Wisdom and then go into Action, that is all. Either way, the circle is complete You will notice of course that many things are common to the ideal followers of the two Paths; they both are totally free from ego. The man following the Path of Action sees God as different from himself, at least to start with. He lives entirely for God and sacrifices his ego so that he may win the Love of God. The man on the Path of Wisdom identifies himself totally with God and since ego has no place in God, he automatically becomes devoid of ego. So both types of devotees of the Lord get rid of ego, each in his own style. Once ego is got rid of, one becomes one with God. And that, if you remember is the goal to be attained So you see the important thing is to get rid of ego, and as I just told you, it can be done by two different methods. Hence both Paths lead to the same goal. However, if you ask Me which of these two paths is better suited to you, I would unhesitatingly pick the Path of Action or Karma Yoga as it is called. In fact, Karma Yoga is the preferred choice for % of humanity! 11. Arjuna (silently digests all this and then slowly asks,) Krishna, what You say is very clear no doubt but there is one thing I still do not understand. Why is it that people are driven to sin even though they know it is wrong? What is amazing is that sometimes people seem to commit sin even against their will! It seems there is some stronger force. What is that? 12. Krishna:- The short answer to your question is that the force you are talking about is the force exerted by the internal enemies. Take, for example, a man addicted to drinking. To start with he did not know the taste of alcohol. One fine day, the enemy called desire tempted this man saying, Listen, you don t know what you are missing! Give this a try!! The man falls for this evil advice and soon finds that he is hooked. Later he realises that his health is being ruined and that death would soon catch up with him but still he is not able to give up drinking. These internal enemies are very powerful and that is why they should not be given even a toehold in the first place Arjuna, desire is man s mortal enemy. It is like a raging fire, a huge unstoppable conflagration. Desire sneaks in by devious means and later hides in the senses and the Mind. Once it gets in, it can smother even Wisdom; that is how even very Wise men have been dragged to ruin. You must therefore slay this evil dragon called desire, well before it gets hold of you! 9

10 12.3 You might think that what I am asking you to do is difficult but do not worry. Just trust in Me and throw desire into the Fire of Knowledge for it to be totally destroyed. People perform all sorts of Yajna at great expense; no need for that. Just burn away your bad qualities, starting with desire that is more than enough. Do it as an act of Love for Me; if you do, then be assured that I shall help you, all the way to success. Of this you can be sure! Chapter 6 Krishna :-Arjuna, do you know that what I am telling you now is no different from what was taught by Me to your ancient ancestors a long time ago? 2. Arjuna (frowns and asks) Krishna, how could that be? You are almost the same age as me, may be a few years older. How then could You have taught all this to my ancestors? 3. Krishna (smiles and replies) That s precisely the point Arjuna! You are just looking at My physical body and thinking of the age of the body. But I have already told you that I am NOT the body! Indeed, neither are you You are the Atma and so am I. When I told you that I taught your ancestor I meant that I, wearing a particular body at that time, taught an embodiment of the Atma that was your physical ancestor. 3.3 Arjuna, man has been told repeatedly that he is NOT the body but the Eternal Atma. But, like a weak student, he easily forgets the lesson taught despite many repetitions. Man seems to remember all kinds of trivial and useless information but readily forgets important truths about his real nature This is the main reason why I have to incarnate again and again, to teach the same lesson! See how man s stupidity gives Me so much work? But I love man dearly and therefore I do not mind. Arjuna, man forgets Truth but I don t that is the difference between man and God Now listen to this carefully. Humans take birth, die, are born again, die again and so on it goes, in a seemingly endless cycle. This repeated birth and death is related to a processing of settling accounts one might say In a given birth, a human being accumulates some positive as well as some negative points. The positive points come from the good deeds done while the negative points come from the sins committed. It is this accumulation that causes rebirth. 3.7 When a person is reborn, he enjoys good luck in proportion to his positive points and bad luck corresponding to the negative points. The positive and the negative are inescapable for a person with an external outlook, that is to say, when the vision is focussed mostly on the world outside. 4. Arjuna:- Krishna, what You say is very disturbing. Is there no way to get out of this rut of repeated birth and death? 5. Krishna:- Who said there isn t any? Of course there is; all you have to do, is to, surrender to Me. In fact, I have already told you how you can earn God s Grace. Once you have God s Grace, nothing can touch you, and you can get off the hook once and for all. 10

11 5.1. Human birth is called Karma Janma; it means that birth is caused by the consequences of actions performed in earlier births. That is what I just now described in terms of settling accounts. 6. Arjuna:- Krishna what about You? Is Your birth also a Karma Janma? 7. Krishna:- Arjuna, what are you saying? I incarnate, and am not born like you and other ordinary mortals are. I have no accounts to settle! Do you understand that? I come at specific times of My choice for specific purposes. It is all a part of My never-ending Sport or Leela. That is why the Incarnation of God is referred to as Leela Janma You want to know more? Here it is! This entire Creation is a Sport or Leela of God. The Universe is the stage and every person is an actor in God s Cosmic Drama. All the ups and downs that you see in life are a part of this extraordinary Drama Now an ordinary play must have a script-writer, a director, a producer and so on. In the Cosmic Drama, all these roles are played by God Himself. He is the Author, the Director, Producer, etc., etc Perhaps you have seen in the usual dramas that there is a person hiding behind the screen who whispers the dialogue in case some actor forgets his lines. He is called a prompter. In the Cosmic Drama also something similar happens. When people forget to follow Dharma [which is really the script], God prompts via the Conscience However, there are times in history when such prompting alone is not sufficient. God then dons a human form and descends as an Avatar to play a direct role in His own Drama. This way, it becomes much easier for Him to correct man Arjuna, whenever the situation demands, I come in human form. Such an Incarnation is called an Avatar. 8. Arjuna:- Krishna why and when does God deem it necessary to incarnate? 9. Krishna:-Ah, God incarnates whenever wickedness is on the rise and good people are tormented by evil people. The Avatar deals suitably with the wicked and protects the good There are many ways in which the Avatar deals with wicked people. When the number of evil doers is relatively small, He arranges for them to be simply disposed off. This is like a surgeon removing cancerous growth Do not however imagine that the every time God descends, He would do so with some sort of a weapon to slay people with. Far from it. There are times when vast sections of the population have good and evil coexisting within them. In such an event, the Avatar obviously cannot go around slaying people. Instead, He resorts to an entirely different strategy When evil is widespread, the weapon that the Avatar uses is the most powerful of them all! The beauty of this weapon is that not even a single drop of blood is shed! Isn t that amazing? 9.5. Can you guess what that weapon is? I am sure you cannot! It is LOVE Arjuna, it is Pure and Unselfish Love, Love that gives and forgives, Love gives and also forgets. 11

12 BABA:- Love lives by giving and forgiving. Self lives by getting and forgetting. 10. Arjuna:- Krishna, how on earth can just Love alone get rid of the bad guys? 11. Krishna(smiles) That is the beauty about Love! You see it does not get rid of wicked people but removes the wickedness in people; got it? (song That s the beauty of Love) 12. Arjuna:-Krishna, are you saying that Love transforms the bad into good? 13.Krishna (enthusiastically):- Correct, you got it! Transformation is the miracle that Love alone can perform; and that is how a bloodbath is averted. Arjuna, it is a pity that man often tries to solve problems using violence, when Love would do the job far more simply and much better too Right now, what is required is surgery but the day will come when the Avatar would be seen as nothing but Love. He would all the time be talking about Love and through His own life put on display the innumerable shades of Pure Love Pure Love would scrub away all the contamination in the minds of seekers who come to It. The Avatar can charm and transform people in countless different ways, suited to the mental make up of the person concerned. 14. Arjuna:-Krishna, can you tell me some more about the Avatar? 15. Krishna:- Yes I can, but right now since time is short let Me just say that in whatever way people adore Me and relate to Me in that very same way I respond. Thus, to a child I am a child, to a woman I am a woman, to a man I am a man; but when I am alone, I am God!" People wonder: ' Why did God who is Indivisible, create diversity in the Universe?' Well, that is for the purpose of staging My Cosmic Drama. You would have noticed, Arjuna, that people are very different in their aptitudes and attitudes. Some like to paint, some like to sing, some are interested in sports, some hunger for power, some are mad about business, and so on. All this diversity is needed for making My Drama spicy! Thus it is that there are good guys as well as bad guys!" 15.2 Talking about My Drama, let Me now add a couple of more remarks about when I make My appearance. You see, people normally tend to forget God, especially when there are plenty of worldly attractions. But if the Avatar happens to be around, His Divine Attraction draws millions to Him like a magnet, and this way many people start thinking about God, at least part of the time." 15.3.They come to Him with all kinds of doubts to start with, but once they see Him, they are straightaway captivated. And when He talks to them, they are instantly charmed and begin to transform. In short, the Avatar initiates God-consciousness on a large scale, which in subsequent years grows substantially The Avatar also provides many opportunities to devotees to redeem their lives by serving Him in many ways. He gives tasks to many and people plunge into these tasks in order to please God in human form. Actually, God does want any of these things; but He pretends that He wants this or that done, so that people could sanctify their lives." 12

13 15.5.Just to give an example, in My earlier Avatar as Rama, there was a need to build a bridge across the ocean. I could have easily created such a bridge with a mere wave of My hand. But I did not. Why? Because I wanted to give the vanaras or monkeys accompanying Me a chance to do service. In fact, you might remember that even a small squirrel came forward to help in this mighty project. What contribution can a mere squirrel make? But God does not evaluate in terms of quantity; He cares only for the spirit in which service is done, and thus it is that the squirrel became eternally famous by winning the Grace of God. Remember! One teaspoon of cow" s milk is far preferable to a barrel of donkey" s milk!" All this sort of thing happens while the Avatar is around. But after the Avatar withdraws and as the years pass by, man begins to forget again, and one more trip down becomes necessary for Me!" Arjuna, being close to the Avatar confers one priceless advantage. Proximity helps one to watch closely the Avatar in action and learn innumerable lessons from Him. This is because the Avatar's life is always His Message. As has been said, "Living with God is true education!" Let Me now revert to the business of action and inaction. Normally, these words are used in a purely worldly sense but that is not correct." Let us say there is a hyperactive businessman. He might be very busy all the time, chasing money of course. However, a Wise man will not see all this as action; rather, he would describe it as inaction! Why? Because for the Wise that alone is action, which is performed in a selfless manner and as an offering to God." Perhaps this would make clear to you that though Yogis might seem very passive and inactive they actually are very active in a spiritual sense. Let Me explain with an illustration." Let us say there is a Yogi who is deep in meditation. You would think this man is utterly inactive and frozen, giving a good imitation of a statue! Not correct!! You see, even while meditating, this Yogi spreads sacred vibrations all around him. People get drawn to the Yogi on account of his goodness, and when they are in his proximity, they experience badly-needed calm and inner peace, at least for some time. The Yogi is hardly conscious that he doing this; yet what he is doing is valuable service and therefore counts as action in the spiritual sense, valuable action in fact. Tell Me, how many are there who can render the important service of making people experience calm and peace?" The two important points you must note regarding actions are: (i) they must be totally free from ego, and (ii) they must be done with Love. In fact, as the saying goes, true Karma is Prema made visible! If action is performed in this spirit, then automatically there is no thought of reward; it is this sacrifice of the desire for the fruit of action or Karmaphala Tyagam as it is called, that would ensure eternal escape from rebirth." Over the ages, people have devised various methods of making offerings. Some build a sacred fire and offer material objects to that fire. This is OK for a start, but what is preferable is to 13

14 sacrifice or offer or give up, call it what you will, one s undesirable traits, like bad desires, for example. Make this offering in the Fire of Knowledge." Knowledge or Wisdom is the greatest and most purifying fire that one can think of. Physical fire can burn only material objects whereas the Fire of Knowledge can burn even such subtle entities as bad qualities." There is nothing greater than Absolute Knowledge for that alone gives a glimpse of the Oneness that is God. It is Knowledge alone that will generate Constant Integrated Awareness or the capacity to see God everywhere, in everything, all the time." Once you are able to see God everywhere, even the traditional ritual involving offerings to the fire would manifest as a part of the Cosmic Loop. That is to say, you would realise that the one who is making the offering is God, the object offered is God, the fire to which the object is offered is God, and the ultimate receiver is also God. In short, everything is by God, for God and of God! That is the awareness that true Knowledge would bring to you." Arjuna, without Knowledge, you would be reduced to a bundle of doubts. Therefore, seizing the Sword of Wisdom, slay ignorance, before you embark on battle 14