Published by Nithyananda Foundation, Bangalore, India

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2 S A S T R A, S T O T R A & S U T R A Published by Nithyananda Foundation, Bangalore, India Copyright 2006 First Edition: July 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private use without permission in writing from Nithyananda Publishers. In the event that you use any of the information in this book for yourself, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions. All proceeds from the sales of this book go towards supporting Nithyananda Foundation s charitable activities. Printed in India by W Q Judge Press, Bangalore, India 2

3 BHAGAVAD GITA The Song of God : Chapter 1 Nithyananda Talks given in USA on The Bhagavad Gita Chapter 1 A 5000 year old technology of inner science made relevant to modern day life..timeless solutions to the path of bliss! 3

4 S A S T R A, S T O T R A & S U T R A 4

5 BHAGAVAD GITA The Song of God : Chapter 1 CONTENT Bhagavad Gita: A Background... 8 Introduction Sastra, Stotra & Sutra Appendix Science and spirituality Offerings from Nithyananda Foundation

6 S A S T R A, S T O T R A & S U T R A! Paaqaa-ya p/itbaaioqatam Baagavata naaraayanaona svayam vyaasaona ga/iqatam puranamauinanaa maqyao mahabaartm AWOtamaRtvaiYa-NaIM BagavatIM AYTadSaaQyaaiyanaIM Amba %vaamanausandqaaima Bagavad\gaIto BavaWooiYaNaIM Om paarthaaya pratibodhitam bhagavataa naaraayanena svayam Vyaasena grathitaam puraanamuninaa madhye mahaabhaaratam Advaitaamrutavarshineem bhagavateem ashtaadsaadhyaayineem Amba tvaamanusadadhaami bhagavadgite bhavadveshineem Om Bhagavad Gita, I meditate upon you, the affectionate Mother, the divine mother showering the nectar of non duality and destroying rebirth, incorporated into the Mahabharata in eighteen chapters by sage Vyasa, with which Lord Narayana, the Supreme Consciousness Himself, enlightened Arjuna. 6

7 BHAGAVAD GITA The Song of God : Chapter 1 vasaudovasautm dovam kmsacaanaurmad-nama\ dovakiprmaanandm krynam vando jagad\gaurum Vasudeva Sutam Devam Kamsa Chanura Mardanam Devaki Paramaanandam Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum I salute you Lord Krishna, Teacher to the World, son of Vasudeva and supreme bliss of Devaki, destroyer of Kamsa and Chanura. 7

8 S A S T R A, S T O T R A & S U T R A Bhagavad Gita: A Background Bhagavad Gita, or Gita, as it is often called, is considered a sacred scripture, a sruti, that which was transmitted by hearing. As a sruti Gita is clubbed along with the ancient scriptures of Veda and Upanishad which are the expressions of the great sages, the maharishi. Veda and Upanishad, the sruti, were not God given as some people believe. They arose through the insight and awareness of the great sages when they went into a no mind state. Gita is a part of the purana, the epics; it forms part of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. Unlike the Veda, which were internalized by the great sages, the maharishi, or the Upanishad, which were the teachings of these great sages, 8

9 BHAGAVAD GITA The Song of God : Chapter 1 Gita is part of a story narrated by Vyasa, a great sage. No other purana, or part of a purana, has this special status as the Gita. Gita arose from the super consciousness of Parabrahma Krishna, the Cosmic Cobsciousness and is therefore considered a scripture. Mahabharata, literally the Great Bharata, refers to the nation and civilization developed by the descendants of Bharata, a great King who ruled a region, what today is known as India. The story of this epic is about two warring clans, Kaurava and Pandava, closely related to one another. Dhritharashtra, the blind King of Hastinapura and father of the 100 Kaurava men was the brother of Pandu, whose children were the five Pandava princes. Pandu, originally the King of Hastinapura, was afflicted by a curse of a sage and he handed over the kingdom and his children to his blind brother Dhritharashtra. Vyasa, the sage who tells this story, says that all the five Pandava children were born to their mother Kunti through her union with divine beings by immaculate conception, since Pandu himself was incapable of siring children as a result of his curse. Kunti received a blessing when she was still a young unmarried adolescent that she could at will summon any divine power. Duryodhana, the Kaurava Prince, had no love lost for his five Pandava cousins. Along with his even more wicked brother Dushassana, he made many attempts to kill the Pandava 9

10 S A S T R A, S T O T R A & S U T R A brothers off without success. Karna, Kunti s eldest son whom she had cast away at birth, since he was born before she was married through her union with the Sun God, by a strange twist of fate joined hands with Duryodhana. On his coming of age, the Pandava Prince Yudhishtra being the rightful heir to the throne that his father Pandu had vacated, was given by his uncle Dhritharashtra half the kingdom. Yudhishtra ruled from his new capital Indraprastha with his brothers Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. Arjuna, won the hand of Princess Draupadi, daughter of the King of Panchal in a swayamwara, a marital contest in which princes fought for the hand of a fair damsel. To obey the promise that the five Pandava brothers made to their mother Kunti that they would share everything equally, Draupadi became the wife of all five Pandava brothers. Duryodhana persuaded Yudhishtra into a gambling session, where the evil Sakuni as Duryodhana s representative defeated the Pandava King. One by one, Yudhishtra was made to lose all that he owned, his kingdom, his brothers, his wife and himself to Duryodhana. Draupadi was shamed in public by Dushassana who disrobed her. Pandava brothers and Draupadi were forced to go into exile for 14 years, with the condition that in the last year they should live incognito. At the end of the 14 years, Pandava brothers tried to reclaim their kingdom. In this effort they were helped by Krishna, the divine reincarnation of Vishnu in the form of the King of 10

11 BHAGAVAD GITA The Song of God : Chapter 1 Yadava clan. However, they were rebuffed by Duryodhana. Finally, war resulted, the Great War, the War of Mahabharata. Various rulers of the entire nation, that is today India, aligned with one or the other of these two clans, the Kaurava or the Pandava. Krishna offered to join either of the two clans. He said: One of you may have me unarmed, not taking any part in the battle. The other may have my entire Yadava army. The first offer was made to Duryodhana, who predictably chose the vast Yadava army, in preference to the unarmed Krishna. Arjuna chose Krishna as his unarmed charioteer. The armies assembled in the vast field of Kurukshetra, now in the state of Haryana in modern day India. All the Kings and Princes were related to one another, often on opposite sides. Arjuna was charioted by Krishna himself. Facing the Kaurava army and his friends, relatives and teachers, Arjuna was overcome by remorse and guilt and wanted to walk away from the battle. Krishna s dialogue with Arjuna on the battle field of Kurukshetra is the content of Bhagavad Gita, which literally means Song of the Divine. Krishna persuaded Arjuna to take up arms and vanquish his enemies. They are already dead, says Krishna, all those who are facing you are dead. Go ahead and do what you have to do. That is your duty. Bhagavad Gita has eighteen chapters and is presented as the 11

12 S A S T R A, S T O T R A & S U T R A narration of Sanjaya, Dhritharashtra s charioteer to the blind king. The Great War of Mahabharata lasted 18 days. All the Kaurava Princes as well all their commanders such as Bhishma, Drona and Karna were killed in battle. The five Pandava brothers survived as winners and became the rulers of the combined kingdom. In this dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna, the dialogue is between man and God; nara and Narayana as they are termed in Sanskrit. Arjuna s questions and doubts are those of each one of us. The answers of the Divine, Krishna, transcend time and space. Krishna s message is as valid today as it was on that fateful battlefield some thousands of years ago. Like Arjuna many thousand years ago, you are here in a dialogue with a Master. May the Master s words resolve your questions and clear your doubts. Nithyanandam! 12

13 BHAGAVAD GITA The Song of God : Chapter 1 Introduction In this series, a young enlightened Master, Nithyananda comments on the Gita. Thousands of commentaries of the Gita have been written over the years. Amongst the earliest were by the great spiritual Masters such as Sankara, some thousand over years ago. In recent times, great Masters such as Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Ramana Maharishi have spoken from the Gita extensively. Many others have written volumes on this great scripture. Nithyananda s commentary of the Bhagavad Gita is not a literary translation and an explanation of that translation. We 13

14 S A S T R A, S T O T R A & S U T R A have added here, for the sake of the curious reader, all the verses in Sanskrit or Devanagari script along with the Roman or English script transliteration, word by word meaning and a summary of that verse s meaning. Here the comparison with other commentaries stops. Nithyananda takes the reader through a world tour while talking about each verse. It is believed that each verse of the Gita has seven levels of meaning. What is commonly rendered is the first level meaning. Here, an enlightened Master takes us beyond the common into the uncommon, with equal ease and simplicity. To read Nithyananda s commentary on the Gita is to obtain an insight that is rare. It is not mere reading; it is an experience; it is a meditation. Sankara, the great Master philosopher said: Bhagavad gita kinchita dheeta, ganga jala lava kanika pita, sakrutapi ena murari samarcha, kriyate tasya yame na charcha A little reading of the Gita, a drop of Ganga water to drink, remembering Krishna once in a while, all this will ensure that you have no problems with the God of Death. The original discourse delivered by Nithyananda has been further expanded with His inputs into this book version. May this reading help you in your endeavor to attain Truth. 14

15 BHAGAVAD GITA The Song of God : Chapter 1 Sastra, Stotra and Sutra There are millions of spiritual scriptures and millions of books on planet Earth. From time immemorial, human beings have created spiritual scriptures, and still continue to create spiritual books. The Bhagavad Gita, the book on which I will be speaking, is an incomparable one. We cannot compare this book with any other book; and this is not just because we are discussing this book, but because, and this I can say for sure, that there is no other book which has penetrated human consciousness so deeply. There is no other book which has contributed to the 15

16 S A S T R A, S T O T R A & S U T R A preparation of so many enlightened beings on planet Earth like the Bhagavad Gita. There is no other book which is such a complete encyclopedia of spirituality. I can say that the Bhagavad Gita is the unabridged dictionary and encyclopedia of spirituality. All the spiritual scriptures can be classified under three headings: One is Sastra: Sastra are those books which give clarity about the aim, the goal of human life; those which teach us about how to live life, what is the purpose of life, what is the goal of life. These give an intellectual understanding about the ultimate truth of man and God. All our major questions get answered intellectually and logically by Sastra. We can be logically convinced to follow the ultimate path. There are several examples of these:. The Ten Commandments are Sastra for example. Those books which give us regulations, which give us the do s and don ts, Vidhi and Nishayada; which tell us what should be done and what should not be done, which guide us in life; these are called Sastra. The Sruti and Smriti of Hindu religion, the sacred scriptures such as the Veda and Upanishad, and the guidelines such as the Manusmriti and epics such as Ramayana, all these are Sastra. 16

17 BHAGAVAD GITA The Song of God : Chapter 1 The second kind of literature is called Stotra. The person who has realized the ultimate truth, the person who has experienced the truth, the person who has had a glimpse of the divine love, divine expression for himself, one who has seen the reality, when such a person expresses his joy, this expression is called Stotra. We worship, we surrender ourselves to the Divine; it is a Stotra. The literature from the heart is a Stotra; the literature from the head is a Sastra. The third kind of literature is called Sutra; which give us techniques to realize the ultimate state. Sastra give us the intellectual understanding, Stotra give us emotional feeling, Sutra give us the Being level experience. Sastra are like signboards; intellectual scriptures which explain the basics of life. Stotra help us surrender to the Divine; the glory of the Divine is expounded by the Stotra. The third, Sutra, is literature, which gives us techniques to achieve devotion or enlightenment. Sastra by themselves cannot lead us to enlightenment, although they can be a good support; they can take us to an enlightened Master. Till that point, they are a great help. Stotra are spoken from the level of emotion, feeling. When we have a deep feeling, we just express it, it just flows through us; our whole Being is flowing; that is Stotra. Sutra means the technique which helps you achieve the goal of the 17

18 S A S T R A, S T O T R A & S U T R A Sastra or the goal of the Stotra. Goal of Sastra is Atman, divinity within; goal of Stotra is God. Of course, both are one and the same but they have two different paths. There are people who are intellectually oriented, who are centered on logic, analysis and calculation; their kind of mind needs Sastra; they need intellectual scriptures. There are people who do not do anything unless they are intellectually convinced, unless they are clear about the whole thing. Of course, we cannot say that they should not come for spirituality, however there are so many scriptures; Stotra level scriptures which say, don t come inside if you don t have faith. Let me tell you: we should look at man with more compassion; we can t put faith as the main criteria, as the first criteria to enter into spirituality. If we put faith as the first criteria to enter spiritual life, we are refusing to give spirituality to almost 90% of human beings. It is not easy to believe anything immediately for most people. Faith may not be instantaneous. We cannot just believe, especially in modern days. Words like belief and faith have limited relevance; all these words are outdated. These words no longer have the meaning they had ages ago; these words are totally out of our lives. We can t say that only the person who believes, one who has faith, can come to spirituality. Spirituality should be open to every being. We should create a system through which we 18

19 BHAGAVAD GITA The Song of God : Chapter 1 can reach every individual. Our Vedic seers, rishi created Sastra, scriptures which give intellectual understanding. Logically, we are made clear of what the path is, what the goal is, why we are asked to do all these things, what for we need spirituality. All these major questions, all our questions are answered logically. All these major questions are answered intellectually in Sastra. The conclusions are given to us. We need to understand a few things about Sastra. Sastra are scriptures which completely take away all our doubts. Samsaya Rakshasa, Nasana Hastram Samsaya, is doubt; it is a rakshasa, demon. Please understand samsaya is a rakshasa, doubt is a devil. Once a doubt enters our mind, till we clear it we can t sleep, we can t rest. Sastra help us get rid of these doubts intellectually. One thing we should understand about intellectual clarity is that unless we have complete intellectual clarity, even if we believe, our belief will be a pseudo belief. Please be very clear: our belief is a pseudo belief. Anyone can shake our faith. Our faith does not have a strong base. Our faith is almost like a building without foundation and if we build without a foundation, what happens to the building, the same will happen to us, if we don t have the base of Sastra. 19

20 S A S T R A, S T O T R A & S U T R A A person asked Vivekananda, Master, what is the importance of Veda and why should we study Sastra? Vivekananda said, if you study Sastra, all your faith, all your sincerity will become so strong that nobody will be able to shake your faith and sincerity. Otherwise, any fool can tell us that what we are doing is superstitious and we start thinking about it, we start contemplating about it, Am I really doing superstitious things? Am I really following the right things? What am I doing? We will start having doubts about ourselves. We won t believe our faith. Please be very clear, we don t believe our belief. That is the problem. Every human being should understand that we never believe our belief. We may think we believe in something; we may think we have faith, but our faith or belief is not deep enough. It does not take us anywhere unless we have the foundation of intellectual conviction. Unless we have the deep foundation of Sastra we will not be able to believe in anything. I have seen people who think they believe. Please be very clear: even our emotions are not so deep. You think we have love, we think we believe. I see all kinds of people, who come and say what they think they believe. One person came to me and said, Oh! Master, I love the whole world. 20

21 BHAGAVAD GITA The Song of God : Chapter 1 Again and again, I tell people that to love the whole world is very easy, but to love your wife is very difficult! That is why we are stuck. To love the whole world is very easy. We can always say Vasudeva Kutumbaha, the world is my family. I feel like the whole world is like my family, Master, we say. The problem is that we are not in tune with our own family, and we think we love but we don t really love. Our emotions are not deep; our faith is not deep. This is because we don t have the intellectual conviction. A man who doesn t have the intellectual conviction and has just faith, his faith can be shaken by anybody. Just one person is enough to break our faith; we ll be totally shocked, we can be totally shaken. Sastra, the intellectual understanding, give a base so that all our convictions, all our faith, all our belief can enter into our Being and start working. Bhakti, devotion, is just an alchemy process. It is as if a touchstone touches us; have you heard about a touchstone? Ramakrishna says beautifully, if a touchstone touches any metal, it becomes gold just by a sparsha, a touch; just a touch is enough for any metal to be converted to gold. 21

22 S A S T R A, S T O T R A & S U T R A Bhakti is a touchstone; the moment bhakti or devotion touches us, we simply become God, we become Divine. The problem is, we never allow bhakti to touch us, we never allow devotion to work on us; we never allow devotion to penetrate our Being. We think we want God, but we are continuously afraid of the Divine. We may think we want Divine, but as long as it is superficial, as long as it is under our control, things go well. The moment devotion enters our Being, and starts the process, we say, No, no, not that much, this is enough! I think that is too much for me! We stop at a certain point, our faith is pseudo. A small story: One guy lived throughout his life as an atheist. One day, he fell from a cliff and was holding, hanging on to a small branch. Slowly, the branch also started giving way. The man started shouting, Oh God! I never believed in you, but now I do, please save me! Please save me, now that I believe in you. He heard a booming voice from heaven that said, Oh my son, don t worry I ll save you. Just let go off the branch! Let go off the branch and I will save you. Immediately the man responded, Is there anybody else out there who can save me? 22

23 BHAGAVAD GITA The Song of God : Chapter 1 Our faith is just pseudo. Is there anybody else who can save me? God is only one of the many choices for us; if there is no good movie on TV, then we go to the temple. If we don t have any other commitment, any other party that day, we think of going to the temple. God is only one more choice for us in our lives. Till we have intellectual conviction about life, God is just one more choice in our life. Spirituality is just one more choice. We just choose. It is just one more shop like Wal Mart or K Mart; we decide which shop we should enter. It is just one more shop, nothing more than that. The basic need for life is intellectual conviction. One guy was praying to Lord Venkateshwara, Oh Lord, please give me a million dollars. If you give me one million dollars I will put 200,000 dollars in your hundi, donation box. If you don t believe me, please deduct 200,000 dollars and give me just the balance 800,000 dollars! Our faith is only this much, our spirituality is just a game. As long as things go well, as long as things go according to our route, God is great. I have seen people when they pass in their exams, they break coconuts in front of Ganesa temples and if they fail, they will break the Ganesa deity itself! If they pass in their exams, they break coconut for God Ganesa, if they fail they break Ganesa himself!! Our faith is very pseudo. If it is not life transforming, we do not allow the devotion to work on us. There is a beautiful verse in the scriptures of Vedanta, the translation of which 23

24 S A S T R A, S T O T R A & S U T R A goes: to clear your intellect, you need to break; you need to open your intellect; you need to have a clear intellectual understanding about life, about spirituality, about everything. Sastra, scriptures, give us that intellectual clarity, that intellectual understanding. If we see all the great devotees, all the great bhakta like Chaitanya, Ramanuja, Madhva, all these great bhakta had a very strong intellectual base. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was a great nayaika philosopher. Nayaika means logic; he was a great philosopher of logic. Once you reach that height, those peaks of logic, only then you fall in the valley of love. Only then you are qualified to fall in love. Unless you reach the heights of logic, you are not qualified to fall in the valley of love. All the great masters, all the great devotees who reach the peak of intellect, had a strong Sastra base. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Ramanuja, Madhva, all these great masters of devotion had a strong intellectual base in the first category scriptures Sastra. Next, are the Stotra. Stotra means expressing our experience or expressing our love; expressing our devotion to our Master or God, the Guru or God. Expressing our deep love is Stotra. We stand in front of the Divine, we stand in front of the Lord and we express our feeling. Many people ask me, what is this, Master, why is it that in Hinduism you have idol worship? 24

25 BHAGAVAD GITA The Song of God : Chapter 1 I tell them that Hinduism doesn t have idol worship. We don t worship the idol, we worship through the idol. When we stand in front of the deity, do we say, Oh stone! give me a boon. Oh stone! Please give me. Oh stone! Please save me? No! We say, Oh God, please save me. Oh Lord! Please save me, Oh Prabhu! Please save me. Please understand, we don t worship the idol in Hinduism, we worship through the idol. So what we are doing is not idol worship, but worship through idol. In Vaishnavism, the devotion or bhakti stream of Hinduism, there is a beautiful word Archavataara. This means that the idol which is worshiped in the temple is called the incarnation of God. Archavataara means incarnation of God. It is not just a stone. Incarnation means the divine descending on the planet Earth. Just like how we have all the incarnations, the ten incarnations, the dasavatara of Vishnu. Each of these avatar are there just like incarnations. Just like these avatar, the stone, the idol that we worship is called Archavataara. We relate to the divine through the vigraha, through the moorti, the idol, the image. When we stand in front of the idol and pour our heart out it is called Stotra. All the songs of the Alvars and Nayanmars, Meera, Chaitanya, all these songs written by the great devotees are called Stotra. People always come and ask me Sometimes I don t feel like chanting these Stotra. Should I do it mechanically even if I don t like doing it? Should I do it? 25

26 S A S T R A, S T O T R A & S U T R A I say, Do It. For one or two days you may feel it is a mechanical exercise, but I tell you that the moment you start enjoying the meaning, the moment you start understanding, it will become your being. It will become your feeling. When you express through your heart it becomes Stotra. The next thing is Sutra. Sutra is the kind of literature that gives us the technique to reach enlightenment which is shown by Sastra; to reach the devotion, the ultimate bhakti which is expressed by Stotra. Sastra are from the intellectual level, Stotra are from the emotional level and Sutra are from the Being level. There are three kinds of human beings: some who are head oriented, some heart oriented and others, Being oriented. To fulfill every kind of human being, our rishi or sages have created three kinds of literature. Our enlightened people have created three kinds of literature - Sastra, Stotra and Sutra. This Bhagavad Gita is a book in which all three are put together and there is something more. Bhagavad Gita is the only book, I can say, the one and only book which is Stotra, Shastra and Sutra, all combined in one. It is Sastra: it gives a clear intellectual understanding about life, about atman or the soul, about what is to be done, what should not be done. Vidhi and Nishayada, do s and don ts, 26

27 BHAGAVAD GITA The Song of God : Chapter 1 rules and regulations are clearly explained. I have not seen any other book explain these concepts so deeply. Please be very clear: just explaining the do s and don ts will not help. Giving the intellectual reason as to why it should be done, why it should not be done, is necessary. There are many books which talk about how many times you can marry or whether you can marry at all. There are many literatures that explain but very few books which give the reason as to why we should do or why we should not do. Gita is the only book which gives us a strong intellectual base, intellectual clarity. In Vedic literature, there are three books which are considered as authority. No other religion has got so many books like Hinduism, like Vedanta. We can be sure of one thing: no other religion has so much of literature. Among the literature, our Masters have chosen three books called Prasthanathreya. These books are the final authorities in spirituality. One is Brahmasutra, another one is Upanishad and the third is the Bhagavad Gita. Brahmasutra is written by Veda Vyasa, an enlightened master. Upanishad again is written by rishi, enlightened masters. But Gita is directly from God, from an incarnation, Poornavataara. Even among the incarnations, Krishna alone is considered Poorna, complete, full incarnation. Why is Krishna considered as Poornavatara? Why not any other incarnations? Why is it that only Krishna is considered as Poornavatara? 27

28 S A S T R A, S T O T R A & S U T R A We should first understand why incarnations come to planet Earth. Why incarnations happen on planet Earth Ramakrishna says beautifully, there was once a big, beautiful garden with many trees, with many varieties of flowers, many varieties of fruits. Three friends were walking near the garden and there was a big wall. One friend climbed the wall and saw the garden. He said, Oh my God! Such a beautiful garden, and he just jumped into the garden and started enjoying, eating the fruits. The second friend climbed the wall and saw the garden. He felt it was so beautiful but he had a little bit of courtesy and he turned around and said to the third, my dear friend, there is a beautiful garden below, come, I m going. Saying this, he too jumped and started enjoying the fruit.. The third friend climbed the wall, saw the beautiful garden. He also saw his two friends enjoying and he understood the level of joy and the bliss that they were enjoying. He then said to himself, No I ll go down and tell all my people that there is such a beautiful garden and I will bring them all and make them enjoy this garden. The man who comes down to tell all his fellowmen is an incarnation. The man who descends from the Divine is the incarnation. The person who comes back to planet Earth to tell you about divinity, to make you realize what he has experienced, is called an incarnation. A scientist is a person who creates a formula to understand 28

29 BHAGAVAD GITA The Song of God : Chapter 1 the things of the outer world. For example, Newton saw something happening in the garden. He saw the apple falling from the tree, and suddenly some understanding came to him. Why is this falling? What is happening? Why shouldn t it go up? Why is it coming down? He started thinking and some understanding came to him. The glimpse of the truth happened to him at that moment, and immediately he analyzed, created a formula so that every body could understand what happens when things fall. He created a formula. The theory of gravity. So a scientist is a person who creates a formula for the outer world. In the same way, mystics, enlightened persons, are those who create a formula to reproduce the inner world experiences. Scientists create formulae for the outer world, whereas Masters create formulae for the inner world. The meditation techniques given by each Master are these formulae. On the other hand, an incarnation is a person who can directly give the experience without even using a formula. All these great incarnations come down to planet Earth to give the spiritual experiences, to make people realize that they are Divine, to make people realize that they are God, to tell people that the other side is beautiful: there s a very big garden, come let us go and enjoy! An incarnation is a person who has come down, who has descended to teach divinity to the world. Why is Krishna Poornavatara? Because He has got all the qualities which are needed to push human beings to divinity. The person who 29

30 S A S T R A, S T O T R A & S U T R A can push human beings to divinity is called Jagat Guru - Guru of the whole universe. There is a beautiful sloka, verse: Vasudevasutam Devam Kamsachanura Mardanam Devaki Parmanandam Krishnam Vande Jagat Gurum The sloka says: Krishna is the jagat guru. Jagat guru means a person who can help the whole world; all types of human beings and from all levels. The universe is a place where all types of human beings are, and at all levels. Krishna is the person who can help all kinds of people from all levels to experience divinity, to reach the ultimate, to realize the truth in them. There are intellectual people, emotional people and there are people who are at the Being level. Some incarnations apply more for intellectual people, for example, the great Master Sankara. Sankara suits intellectual people. Buddha suits intellectual people. Intellectual people can relate to Buddha easily, but for emotional people it is very difficult. We can t imagine Buddha with a flute. We can t imagine Buddha singing and dancing. We can t imagine Sankara singing and dancing. We can t imagine Sankara doing raasleela the intimate play with the Gopikas!. Only for intellectuals, will Buddha and Sankara appeal. 30

31 BHAGAVAD GITA The Song of God : Chapter 1 Then, there are some incarnations for emotional people. They are Masters like Meera and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. They are always singing and dancing, celebrating. An intellectual man can never understand Meera or Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He can never understand Aandal, the one who was lost in devotion to the Lord. They can never understand these incarnations. For people who are at Being level, who are centered on their being, for them, again it is very difficult to relate with the intellectual or the emotional masters. They straight away want the experience. They are neither ready to analyze nor ready to believe. A person ready to analyze, he goes to Sastra. A person ready to believe is drawn to Stotra, but a person who wants a straight experience, instant coffee, instant experience, he can neither wait for Sastra nor can he wait for Stotra; he straight away wants the technology; he wants the applied science. Sastra are like main theory, the basic science. Stotra are like marketing department, publicity. Sutra are applied science. They are straight answers. A small story: One guy reaches Yama Dharma s court for judgement. Yama is the God of Death and Justice. Yama says, you have committed some sins and also have some merit. You can be allowed in heaven or in hell. You have a choice. You can see both the places and choose which one you want. 31

32 S A S T R A, S T O T R A & S U T R A The guy says, alright, I ll first go to both the places and then decide. He went to hell first. He saw that the people were so beautiful, dancing and singing. It was completely hi-tech; computers were available; Internet was available. They were getting the everyday news effortlessly; everything was so new, air conditioned and people serving. He thought, what is this? What happened to hell? He enquired and the people in hell said, all the technology-oriented people are coming here; all the techies are here and so we have changed the whole setup. Now we have updated the whole system. No more like old times. Now, everything is new. The man decided to go to heaven as well and see how things are there. There is a chance that some techies would have gone there as well. There is a possibility. So, he went to heaven. In heaven, he saw the same old Saints with long beards, sitting on clouds and singing Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Nothing else, nothing new. It is the same heaven, nothing much was happening. He went to Yama and said, I think I ll go to hell. Yama said, please be very clear. You cannot change your mind. Are you sure? The guy said, yes I m sure I ll go to hell. 32

33 BHAGAVAD GITA The Song of God : Chapter 1 As soon as he decided, suddenly a door opened and he fell into hell. There he was shocked with what he saw. He saw the conventional hell, people being tortured by many devils. It was the regular traditional, conventional hell. He was shocked; he asked, what is happening? What is this? When I came here half an hour ago hell was different and now the whole thing has changed. They said, no, no, that was our promotional feature from our marketing department! Understand: sometimes we are caught in the marketing department. Don t be caught in the marketing department. And when you go to the marketing department, be very clear about what the truth is and what is exaggerated. You need to analyze. Of course, when I say we go through the Stotra we need to understand it. Please be very clear: when we go through the Purana, the epic stories, we need to understand the spirit of the Purana. We need to understand the spirit. There is a big difference between fact and truth. Purana are the great truths. They show us the way to the truth. So while understanding Stotra, we should understand the spirit of the Stotra. The next, Being level people are those who neither want Sastra nor do they want Stotra; they straight away want applied science, technology. For them, Siva who created the Vignana Bhairava Tantra, is the answer. All these great 33

34 S A S T R A, S T O T R A & S U T R A meditation techniques! For those people who are Being oriented, for them these meditation techniques are suitable; for them, Zen Masters are ideal. They can relate with the Zen Masters. So, for the intellectual crowd, there is one kind of incarnation, for the emotional crowd, another kind of incarnation, and for Being level people, another kind of Master. But here is Krishna, with whom, people at all three levels can relate. If you are an intellectual, He gives you the Gita, Gita Krishna. If you are emotional, there is the Radha Krishna. He can sing and dance, he can play, he can be naughty, he can fulfill your emotional Being. He can give you the ultimate emotional fulfillment. At the Being level, you want a straight technology of enlightenment. Again, he offers the truth, Dhyana Yoga in the Gita. He is complete fulfillment. His very life is Sutra! The very life of Krishna is Sutra. Sutra means the technique that leads you to enlightenment. The body language of an enlightened person is Sutra. Krishna is the person whose body language straight away leads you to enlightenment. Understand that Rama will lead you to Dharma, righteousness. If you follow what Rama did, you will have Dharma but with Krishna, you will straight away have Moksha, liberation. With Krishna s Being, when we experience the Being of 34

35 BHAGAVAD GITA The Song of God : Chapter 1 Krishna, when we understand Krishna, His very Being is a technique, His very life is a technique. That is why there is a term in Bhagavata called Leela Dhyana. Just remembering the leela, the playful pranks of Krishna, is Dhyana - meditation. Please understand: no other incarnation is given the word Leela Dhyana, no other incarnation is praised. Just remembering His acts is Leela. Masters say that remembering the acts of Krishna is Leela. All the great rishi once went to Vrindavan, where Krishna was born, to see what was happening: why these fellows are so happy, always singing and dancing and we rishi are sitting with closed eyes and long faces and trying to meditate for long hours and nothing is happening; except the beard, nothing else is growing. We are sitting for a long time but these Gopika, the female cowherds who were Krishna s playmates, are always happy, signing and dancing! What is happening? They just wanted to see. They were disturbed by these Gopika s constant singing and dancing. A small story: A guy was sitting on the banks of a river trying to meditate. He heard the sound of anklets and opened his eyes and saw a young lady, a young woman walking towards the river to fetch some water. He asked, what is this? What kind of disturbance is this? 35

36 S A S T R A, S T O T R A & S U T R A Then he closed his eyes and started meditating again. The next day, at the same time, he heard the sound again. Unconsciously he opened his eyes, saw the young girl and asked, what kind of disturbance are you creating? Again, he closed his eyes and started meditating. On the third day, at the same time, he became anxious and waited for the sound of the anklets! These rishi must have been disturbed by the singing and dancing of the Gopika, around Krishna. They wanted to know what was going on in Vrindavan. They came down, they went to Vrindavan just to see the Gopika. Not only did the Gopika not receive them properly; they didn t even care to listen to what they had to say. They were happy, completely fulfilled, and in total contentment, remembering Krishna, in the reminiscences of the memories of Krishna. These rishi asked, what is this? We are rishi. We have come all the way to see you and you are not even receiving us properly. One Gopika came up and asked, Rishi? Who s that? We meditate on the Lord s feet in our heart, said one of the Rishi. Meditate on His feet? Come, we will show you, how we are 36

37 BHAGAVAD GITA The Song of God : Chapter 1 playing with Him! You are meditating on Him. Why? Come, we will show you, how we are playing with Him. You say, you are trying to remember Him by chanting; we are trying to forget Him! He is so much in our being. We are not able to forget him, we are not able to do our work, and he has completely filled up our inner space. Many people come and ask me, Master, should we remember you constantly, should we take you as our Master? I tell them: never make that mistake. If I am going to help you, if I am your Master, you will not be able to forget me. If you have to remember me with effort, be very clear that I am not your Master; forget me, carry on doing your work, carry on with your life. If you have to remember something consciously, with effort, it is ugly. Only when you can t forget, only then, devotion happens in you. The Gopika, say, we are not able to forget. We are not able to forget our dear Krishna. Emotional people can also relate with Krishna. They can sing, dance and play with Him, and the Being level people who are continually aspiring, seeking a straight experience, again to them as well, Krishna appeals, because just by will He can show, He can give enlightenment experience like how he gave to Arjuna, by just showing His cosmic form, Vishwa Roopa Darshana. Just by showing that He is in everybody, and everybody is in 37

38 S A S T R A, S T O T R A & S U T R A Him, He is able to express; just by will, He is able to give an experience of the Divine to Arjuna; He is able to give Eternal Bliss to Arjuna. So whether we are intellectually oriented, emotionally oriented or Being level oriented, we can see our fulfillment in Krishna. Krishna can give us fulfillment. When intellect ripens it becomes intelligence, when emotion ripens it becomes devotion, when our Being ripens we become enlightened. All these three enlightenment modes - Being, devotion and intelligence, all these three express at their peak in Krishna. Krishna is a person who can fulfill every Being, which is why He is called Jagat Guru. Jagat Guru, guru of the whole universe. One Swami in India came to me. He said, I am the Jagat Guru. Jagat Guru? I asked, what is this? It s like having a small hotel on the roadside and naming it the Sheraton. I asked him, Jagat Guru? What do you mean by that word? Do you know the qualifications of a Jagat Guru? He said, No, no, I have one disciple and his name is Jagat. So I am called Jagat Guru! So understand: the word Jagat Guru does not mean just the 38

39 BHAGAVAD GITA The Song of God : Chapter 1 guru of one person Jagat! Jagat Guru is the person who leads the whole universe into the Divine Consciousness. Krishna is the only person who is a Jagat Guru. So, to a person who is intellectually oriented, the Upanishad will appeal, Sastra will appeal, Brahma Sutra will appeal. To a person who is emotionally oriented, the Stotra will appeal; the songs of Chaitanya, Meera, songs of Tulsidas will appeal. For a person who is at the Being level oriented, for him Vignana Bhairava Tantra or Patanjali Yoga Sutra, which give applied science, technology will appeal. But Krishna appeals to every being. He is for the intellectual people, emotional people and Being level people and something more. He has created keys to open all the locks. He has created methods which can give spiritual experience for the whole of humanity; to people who have come and gone, people who are here, and who are yet to come. He has created the technology even for the following generations. He is Nithya Ananda or Eternal Bliss. Gita is the Ultimate scripture which is Sastra, Stotra and Sutra. 39

40 S A S T R A, S T O T R A & S U T R A When Krishna says, xéèxéæ ÊUôxnùÎxiÉ ÉºjÉÉÊhÉ xéèxéæ nù½þêié {ÉÉ ÉEò&* xé SÉèxÉÆ C±ÉänùªÉxiªÉÉ{ÉÉä xé ÉÉä¹ÉªÉÊiÉ ÉÉ ûié&**2.23** Nainam chindanti sastrani, Nainam dahati pavakaha Na chainam kledayantyapo na soshayati marutaha (2.23) Weapons do not cleave, nor fire burn the Atman. Water does not wet it wind does not dry it When He talks about the basic ideas, the basic truths about life and spirituality, it is Sastra. When Arjuna says, xé É& {ÉÖ úºiéénùlé {ÉÞ¹`öiɺiÉä xé ÉÉä%ºiÉÖ iéä ºÉ ÉÇiÉ É ºÉ ÉÇ* +xéxié ÉÒªÉÉÇÊ ÉiÉÊ ÉGò ɺi ÉÆ ºÉ ÉÈ ºÉ ÉÉ{xÉÉäÊ¹É iéiééä%êºé ºÉ ÉÇ&**11.40** Namo Purastat atha prsthatas te, Namostute sarvata eva sarva Ananta viryamita vikramas tvam sarvam samapnosi tato si sarvah (11.40) Oh Lord, I bow down to You from front, from behind, on all sides; You are infinitely mighty, pervading everything, You are the Ultimate. 40

41 BHAGAVAD GITA The Song of God : Chapter 1 Arjuna is doing the Stotra; Arjuna is praising the Lord; he is expressing his devotion. ªÉÆ ªÉÆ ÉÉÊ{É º É úx ÉÉ ÉÆ iªévéiªéxiéä Eò±Éä É ú ÉÂ* iéæ ié Éä ÉèÊiÉ EòÉèxiÉäªÉ ºÉnùÉ iénâù ÉÉ É ÉÉÊ ÉiÉ&**8.6** Whatever your thought is when you leave this body, absorbed in that thought, that alone you attain, Arjuna! (8.6) Krishna here provides the technique, the Sutra to Arjuna. A most powerful Sutra that would help anyone attain what he wants. Bhagavad Gita is the only scripture that combines the wisdom of Sastra, the depth of feeling of Stotra, and the practical reality of a Sutra. It is a means to enlightenment for all, delivered by the Master of Masters. In this first chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, we see Arjuna, the most prolific fighter amongst the Pandava princes and the darling of all his teachers, winner of Draupadi and the treasured friend of Krishna, in a deep dilemma. Years ago, a man called Arthur Koestler wrote an article about Communism, titled Yogi and the Commissar. We do not know whether he had read the Gita, but he had certainly captured Arjuna and his plight with his title. 41

42 S A S T R A, S T O T R A & S U T R A Arjuna is both the Yogi and the Commissar. As a Yogi, he is deeply spiritual, centered within himself and deeply aware of his moral and ethical obligations. As the Commissar, Arjuna is the warrior, ready to avenge, ready to impose order and control; he is the archetypal Kshatriya prince. It is impossible to continuously and consistently continue with both these personalities without faltering. Arjuna falters, as he faces his enemies on the battle field of the Great Mahabharata War. His dilemma unfolds. Arjuna s dilemma is such that he is now unable to be neither a Yogi nor a Commissar. He loses his detachment as a Yogi. In turn he loses his courage as a Commissar. He sees his enemies and identifies himself with them. In front of him, are his mentors, family and friends. They are his extension, his lineage, his identity. He can no longer pretend that he is the ultimate warrior, the Commissar, who can dispassionately dispatch them to death. Arjuna s dilemma is the dilemma of all humanity. It is an internal conflict between what we perceive as our value systems and beliefs, and what we feel we should do. Our value systems and beliefs are the samskara or deeply engraved memories that drive our decisions. The problem lies 42

43 BHAGAVAD GITA The Song of God : Chapter 1 in the fact that these samskara lie deep in our unconscious. We are not even aware of them. In the case of Arjuna, Arjuna understood his Kshatriya code of conduct very well, which demanded that he cannot turn down a challenge to fight and gamble. However, his deep rooted attachment to his clan and lineage proved stronger than what he considered to be his duties. These beliefs were far stronger than the codes of conduct. Arjuna s samskara were primal. They were related to his survival issues, his identity issues. By killing his clan members, he was in effect destroying a part of himself. No code of conduct was worth that destruction. That was his dilemma. All of us, at one time or another are caught in such dilemma. We are taught to follow certain societal rules and regulations. As long as our basic desires are in tune with these societal and religious rules and regulations, we have no problems, no confusion, no dilemma. However, when, what we seek and the path we need to follow to achieve what we seek violate these rules and regulations, our dilemmas start. That s why Jesus said, he amongst you, who is without sin, let him cast the first stone. Everyone of us, without exception, has inbuilt guilt in having violated what we have understood to be the commandments of religion and society. That guilt is what we term sin, and we are afraid that the unknown, the unseen forces will gang up against us and 43

44 S A S T R A, S T O T R A & S U T R A punish us for these violations. Desire versus guilt, is our dilemma, always, but always. In almost all cases, if the desires are strong enough, desires win. Rules and regulations can wait, we say. At worst, we can always work out a way of appeasing the unknown and unseen forces. After all, what are priests for; if anything, they may demand more to intercede with these paranormal forces on our behalf. That s all. The truth is that society and religion encourage us to think this way. They know that no one can be controlled a hundred percent and all the time. Let us just put speed blockers, they say. Let us try and control them through fear and greed. If they are all good all the time, that would be very difficult. We will be out of business. They can then deal directly with the unseen forces. That cannot be allowed. So let us install rules and regulations that cannot be observed for the most part, by most people. They will violate them, they will stumble. Let us then catch hold of them and control them; control them through fear and greed; through the fear of God. Such is the genesis of all religious and societal norms and guidelines. They are established so that we break them and feel guilty. Once we feel guilty, we are caught, caught for ever. 44

45 BHAGAVAD GITA The Song of God : Chapter 1 There is no sin in the spiritual sense. When you are truly aware that there are no sins. Whatever happens to us happens as a result of natural laws, when one is truly aware. When one has the compassion for all of humanity, when one feels for every living being the same compassion that one feels for oneself and one s own, there is no way one can think and do harm to another. There can be no sin. And therefore, there is no guilt either. Arjuna s progress on this path of self discovery is the path of the Bhagavad Gita. That is our path too, if we internalize the message of Gita. When there is no variation between what we wish to do and what we believe in, when we are aware of our samskara and we act in total fulfillment of these samskara in awareness, we have no dilemma. We are in fulfillment. All of us are born with pre-existing desires; these are the vasana, the mental set up that the spirit within us carries into our bodies. These are also called prarabda karma. Prarabda karma, which are the carried over desires when we are born, carry their own energy for fulfillment. The trouble is, that at the time of death, most of us go into coma, when the spirit passes through the Causal layer as it crosses the seven mind body energy layers, and at this time, we lose memory of our prarabda karma. We no longer remember why we were born, with what desires we were born! That is the root cause of our dilemma. 45