57. Inaction, In-action, and Beyond action

In the fourth chapter of the Bhagavadgītā, Kr̥ṣṇa discusses karma-akarma-vikarma. There are various interpretations for these terms (and the related verses) by different commentators. Here we will base our discussion on Śāṅkarabhāṣya.

Kr̥ṣṇa opens up the topic by saying "Even scholars are confused in recognizing karma and akarma" (4.16) indicating that the concept is not straightforward. In the subsequent verse he adds "vikarma" to it, and further emphasizes that the nature of karma is very complex (4.17).

The word "karma" refers to śāstravihita karma — activities prescribed by the śāstras for your role in the society. This includes nitya-naimittika karma (sandhyāvandana, agnihōtra etc.) that everyone should perform along with the specific activities as per their varṇa and the stage of life (āśrama).

"Vikarma" refers to niṣiddha or forbidden karma. For e.g. as discussed earlier, following paradharma is vikarma. Similarly, if someone in student life performs activities prescribed for householder life (mixing up of the āśrama dharma), it is vikarma. And karma such as stealing is a vikarma for anyone.

"Akarma" requires some explanation. Usually, the prefix "a" or "niḥ" in Saṁskr̥ta signifies negation (like the "un" or "im" in English). For e.g. anitya means impermanent. But in spiritual teachings these prefixes sometimes indicate not mere negation, but transcendence. For e.g. nirguṇa does not mean "devoid of guṇa", but means "transcendence from guṇa" (guṇātīta). If a simple example has to be given: movies are projected on a screen, but the screen transcends all the movies. The difference between negation and transcendence is that in negation there is absence, whereas in transcendence there is a leap to a higher context that supports the lower context but is untouched by it.

Thus the word akarma (or naiṣkarmya) can mean two things: 1) Inactivity (or actionlessness) 2) Transcendence from karma. Throughout the Gītā both the connotations are used by Kr̥ṣṇa and we should be careful to identify them. As a rule whenever he condemns it he is referring to "inactivity" (e.g. 2.47), and whenever he appreciates it he is referring to transcendence (3.3; 18.48).

In fact, he had laid the foundation for the karma-akarma discussion in the beginning of the third chapter. The phrase "naiṣkarmya sthiti/siddhi" is popularly used as a synonym to ātmajñāna[1]. Therefore, when Arjuna questions him as to why he should engage in karma if jñāna is the ultimate goal, although Arjuna did not explicitly use the word naiṣkarmya, Kr̥ṣṇa, as though reading Arjuna's mind, clarifies "One cannot attain naiṣkarmya by simply refraining from karma" (3.3). Here he is pointing out that naiṣkarmya means not negation of karma, but transcendence from it. In the fourth chapter he is addressing the same with special attention.

What does transcendence from karma mean? How is ātmajñāna a state of naiṣkarmya? We can look at it from two angles.

1) What we call as karma is basically amplification. For e.g. a car is designed in such a way that if I move my foot, an entire car moves. Movement is amplified several million times. Similarly, if we take this a step backward, it is the minute activity of the neurons that is amplified as the movement of the foot. If we take this further backward, as per some modern theories, it is the extremely minuscule spacetime events that cause neural firing. Thus karma is getting amplified in several levels. But it cannot be that it is an endless chain of smaller and smaller activity; there has to be an end, and the natural mathematical end to this is stillness. This is what the scriptures conclusively affirm too; our true nature is stillness. But it is not inert stillness; it is the source of all karma! When we thus realize our true nature to be absolute stillness, we transcend karma. We would be in naiṣkarmya although there is karma on the surface.

2) In ātmajñāna, extremes meet. De-identification from all specific entities leads also to identification with the whole existence at once[2] (our problem is that we are in between — identification with only a few particular things); and all-inclusive identification too implies transcendence from karma. Karma means an interaction of two entities. Any system has parts and when we are identified with certain parts only, we see activity (interaction with other parts). But when we embrace the whole system at once, karma is transcended. For e.g. I say I eat food as I see myself as a specific body. But the body is a piece of earth, so is the food I am eating. One part of earth is eating another part of earth. From the perspective of earth as a whole no eating is happening; the net effect is nil[3]. Therefore an ātmajñāni, as he has an all-inclusive identification with the cosmos, transcends karma. He sees that the consumed, the consumer, the process of consumption etc. are all the same reality (4.24)

Now we are ready to take on a riddle like statement from Kr̥ṣṇa:

कर्मण्यकर्म यः पश्येत् अकर्मणि च कर्म यः ।

स बुद्धिमान् मनुष्येषु स युक्तः कृत्स्नकर्मकृत् ॥४.१८॥

karmaṇyakarma yaḥ paśyēt akarmaṇi ca karma yaḥ |

sa buddhimān manuṣyēṣu sa yuktaḥ kr̥tsnakarmakr̥t ||4.18||

Meaning: He who sees akarma in karma and karma in akarma, he is wise among men; he is a Yogi and performer of all actions.

Here there are two parts:

a) Seeing akarma in karma — here akarma is being used in the profound sense, i.e. transcendence from karma. When someone has realized his true nature, he sees himself as absolute stillness and is identified with nothing (or is identified with the entire existence). Hence for him there is no karma at all even if he is engaged in a lot of karma from a mundane standpoint (4.20).

b) Seeing karma in akarma — here akarma is being used in the simpler sense, i.e. inaction. For someone who has not realized his true nature, "I am not doing" is also happening out of a strong individuality and doership. Thus, this "not doing" is a doing; it is karma in the disguise of akarma (3.6).

---

[1] Jñāna, Bhakti, Yōga and Naiṣkarmya are four names of the same enlightened state from the perspective of the four streams of yōga — Jñāna yōga, Bhakti yōga, Rāja Yōga and Karma yōga.

[2] "When you attain jñāna, you will see all the beings within yourself" (4.35)

[3] Homework for readers — "the entire Universe considered at once does not have a weight" — ponder over this and use it as an example here.

55. Why (and When) Should One Read Bhagavadgita?

<< Previous - "My Philosophy is Correct" - Deciphering the Parody of Faith

Nobility and honesty accompany increased friction with the world [and thus more turbulence and suffering], and noble people (like Arjuna), instead of considering passivity and avoidance as the only pragmatic solution, and the ensuing troublefree-but-pale life as the only feasible way to exist, should recognize that there are greater possibilities of powerful tranquility. That is why one should read the Gita.

Sensitivity accompanies more instability, and sensitive people, instead of considering falling back to complacency, coziness and insensitivity as the only practicable solution, and the ensuing inert-stability as the only feasible way to exist, should recognize that there are higher possibilities of regal and dynamic stability. That is why one should read the Gita.

Man will one day realize that even a little probe into the affairs of the world leads to endless and vicious intellectual arguments that are incapable of authoritatively deciding what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is bad; and realizing thus the bottomlessness of the rabbit hole, and the impotency of his conceited intellect to resolve the puzzle of the duality, man will inescapably yearn for transcendence. That is when one should read the Gita.

And then, he should know that this tranquility, this stability, this transcendence, which he is intrinsically yearning for, is to be, and can be, accomplished right here, and not after his death in some unknown heaven. That is why one should read the Gita.

After investigating a great deal about things which exist around him, including his body and mind, man eventually reaches a point of saturation, and drawn by inevitability, shines his glorious power of enquiry at his own existence. He should then know that therein is the transcendence that he is seeking, and not somewhere up in the sky. That is why one should read the Gita.

And if he has NOT reached the aforementioned state of nobility, sensitivity and saturation yet, Gita will not be of much meaning to him. He will only end up misunderstanding the text, and get caught up in the juvenile philosophical arguments of monism and dualism, and in the fanatic debates about the supremacy of Krishna and Shiva (or whoever else). Instead of raising himself to the level of the text, he will only drag the text down to his level, and use it to merely satisfy his trivial urge to quarrel. :-)

Gita is not just a book of morals and ethics; its purpose is not merely to preach us about good and bad. Its message is transcendence. And that’s why it stands apart from other preliminary ‘scriptures’.

https://www.quora.com/Why-should-one-read-Srimad-Bhagavad-Geeta/answer/Vasudeva-Jijnasu

37. Complete V/S Finish

<< Previous - Part 3 - The Self-Enquiry

Death has always been in the forefront when it comes to making people think about the meaning of life. No matter how much one wishes to forget this inevitability, it somehow lingers in some corner, just waiting to take over someday. No matter how much one wishes to avoid it, we know that it would come and stand face to face someday. And we better be ready when it does. How can I be ready? Is it by writing a will for proper distribution of the property I hold? Is it by being in the company of my family and friends who will stand around my deathbed weeping? Is it the feeling "I am important and the world will suffer a loss without me" that will make me content? Will it? Really? It perhaps requires serious imagining abilities in order to live the actual death moment and really feel what we would feel then. But let us try.

I am lying on a bed, with an old body about to wither. There are several people standing around the bed, with lips talking in a low voice and with eyes filled with sorrow. All legal matters have been promptly taken care of. I have lived a very generous and righteous life. Many are crying for the loss that the society will incur because of my death. Everything is perfect. But then, am I happy? Am I perfectly content? Well, I want to pose as if I am peacefully leaving. But something within is bugging. Questions, doubts and more than all, the pain of separation are boiling within.

"Everything will vanish in a moment. Everything that I gained and accumulated - money, assets, relationships - is just going to be forcefully taken away in a matter of a moment, Phhoosh.. just like that. This world, which I love so much, is going to go away. And what a pity, I can do nothing about this. I don't want to leave, but I am being pushed away. All my money, power, influences are of no use now. Then why was I madly after them? Just to lose them forcefully one day? What will happen to me after death? Is re-incarnation true? Or will I cease to exist after a minute? What will happen? What will happen with death? What is death?"

Only then will we seriously think about the meaning of life and death. The question which was casually postponed every time it popped up now has no more postponement possible. Time up, and the question has not been answered. Exam is in a minute and I am totally unprepared. Exam will anyway take place, I will weep and stare at the question paper with a blank look. I leave the exam hall holding an unfathomable question paper and leaving behind a blank answer sheet. Question remains a question - What was the meaning of all that I did in my life? What is death?

It is a terrible feeling to be on a deathbed, because there are hundreds of things associated with death, all the things that have been termed as 'bad', all the things we desperately try to avoid while we live - losing things, losing people and most of all letting go of the precious body. And add to that the uncertainty of the 'what next?'. With death, all of them come at once like a storm, causing a great turmoil and misery.

Can anything be done? Anything to face death peacefully? All the things explained above are all different faces of the same thing - attachment. There is a term 'Vairagya' that is given utmost importance in spirituality. And it is also one of the misunderstood terms. We think Vairagya means becoming a Sanyasi and going to a forest. That is because we always look for meanings in physical activities. Brahmana is he who wears a sacred thread and eats only vegetarian, Karma means an action done with hands and legs, Dana means giving away some object etc. This narrowed meaning is itself a result of high attachment to the physical body. Similarly, Vairagya is also given a very narrow meaning, something related to physical activity. But actual practice of Vairagya is only within, and is needed for all at all times, without which only misery awaits. Only a person who has practiced true Vairagya is eligible to live in the world and hence to face death successfully.

There is a custom that is performed in marriages of some communities in India. The bridegroom, dressed as a Brahmachari walks out of the place intending to go to Kashi and dedicate his life to Adhyatma i.e. the search for truth. And then some of the relatives will come and persuade him to stay back by promising to offer him a girl to lead a family life. He then comes back and gets married. This has all become a funny drama and everyone enjoys while this is being performed as a ritual. But have you ever wondered what this could mean? Is this to show that all young boys are hypocrites - trying to go away but staying back as soon as a girl is ready to marry him? That would be so cheap! Because then it would mean that all are liars, just acting as if they are interested in renunciation but then pouncing on a girl as soon as one is available! Eewww... disgusting! Our ancestors should certainly have had something better in their mind.

Ramana Maharshi points out that the custom is only meant to show one thing - a person indifferent to marriage is eligible for marriage. He should be equally ready to be both - Brahmachari or a Grihastha. There should not be a glue of attachment to a girl and pleasures of family life, only then is he truly eligible for having a wife, not otherwise. Because otherwise, he is only going to have drops of so called pleasures amidst an ocean of fear and suffering. Fear of failure of endless expectations, and suffering born out of actual failure of those expectations, ranging from the tiniest to the biggest. Therefore only a true Viragi can lead a happy family life - happy when things go fine, and totally undisturbed when things go wrong.

Actually all of us already know this concept. A small kid of 8 years loves chocolates and ice-cream. If money is given to him, he would certainly overeat chocolates and fall sick. So, we manage all his requirement and even if we have to give money to him for something, we will do so very cautiously. Only when he is old and mature enough, when he becomes indifferent to chocolates (at least to some extent), we will let him handle money to some extent. Because then we know that even if he eats chocolates, he would do so moderately. He is not so desperate for them. If there are chocolates, he is happy. If they are not there, he is not so disturbed, he can do without them. He has become indifferent to chocolates and ice-cream. He has become a Viragi towards chocolates and ice-cream. If we extend this simple concept to everything in life - wife, children, fame, money - that becomes Vairagya. A person living in the world, but totally unattached in his mind. A truly free person. A person who will not weep for losing things or people. The world is meant to enjoy objects and relationships, not to stick to them. Because that is anyway impossible. The game of the world is only about this - to be able to be detached at will. Only he will enjoy the world thoroughly, without having the slightest fear of losing them or without suffering even a bit when he loses them. He is a person fit to face death.

Nobody likes a cricketer continuing to play even after he has lost the edge and then being thrown out of the team forcefully by the board, even if he had played brilliantly in his young age. Only he is respected who voluntarily retires in a dignified manner. This voluntary retirement has to be extended to everything in life - from the smallest object like 'my room' to the biggest 'my dear wife/son'. Sticking to something desperately and weeping for it - everyone feels repulsive to see someone else do this. But when it comes to us, something blinds us from the obvious truth. We begin to act as if we can try and hold on to it forever. Voluntary retirement is a power. One should be ready to execute this power at will, for anything, for anyone, at any moment, anywhere. Only he who possesses this power is eligible for a family life. And that is the meaning of the custom being performed in weddings. Because he would no more weep when life takes some people and things away from him, and when finally death takes all people and things away from him. Only  he can claim a dignified end.

There is one more aspect that bugs during death - a sense of incompleteness. "This work is pending, that issue is pending, I wanted to complete those. As a last thing I wanted to see my grandson. Oh no, now I can't". But we all know that this 'last thing' never gets done. A new 'last thing' springs up every day. When you leave home for a few days, for a long tour, just observe the restlessness that creeps in. After leaving home, there will be so many petty things crowded in the mind "Have I closed the water tap? Did I switch off the mains? Did I inform the neighbor to receive all the mails on behalf of me?" etc. A sense of incompleteness. If for such a small trip away from home so many things trouble us, then imagine the situation during death, when we have to leave everything and everyone for good! Which incomplete item or task will we think of in the few minutes available?

A detached person gets over this problem as well. An attached person has the notion that he runs and manages the world. He thinks he is responsible for the completion of things, and if he does not complete, things will fall apart and he feels he is responsible for that. Feeling responsible for things that will take place even after his death. What a strong attachment and how stupid! Considering the example of the cricket player again - "Oh, if I leave the cricket team who will open the innings?". A detached person, does everything that he has to do, and when it is time to leave, he just leaves. Even if things are falling apart he does not weep for it. "During my time, I performed what was entrusted to me efficiently. I am not the permanent manager of the world. It is time to leave and I leave. Even if everything goes to dogs, it is none of my business anymore!". Only a person who has been very honest and efficient in his activities throughout life can do this in the end. Else, the guilt of inefficient work will prick during death, and people want to fix things in this last moment, like how people read one day before the exam, or like how people start working more when the year-end appraisal is near. 

It is perhaps difficult to understand this fully here, but let us look at what Krishna did. Many years had passed after the Mahabharata war. All Yadava warriors, except Krishna and Balarama, had killed each other in a massacre after getting drunk. Krishna comes to Dwaraka, informs his father about this tragedy, sends a message for Arjuna to come and protect the citizens of Dwaraka and then says "My job is done, I have to go", and then simply walks out of the kingdom. He goes to a forest, wanders about without any goal in mind, and then sleeps under a tree. A hunter mistakes him for a deer and shoots an arrow at him. It pierces his leg and then shortly he leaves the body. In our perspective, what a pathetic death this is! He was a superhero of the times, a high profile celebrity, someone who had performed extreme feats impossible for a common man. A person considered to be a God. And this is how he chose to die, like a beggar, absolutely indifferent to the physical body and a ceremonious death, absolutely indifferent to the chaos that Dwaraka would go into if he left. Even Arjuna was unable to stop dacoits from looting the people of Dwaraka. But very well knowing all this, Krishna simply walked out - "My job is done and it is time to leave. What happens after that is none of my business." Where is Krishna, a superhero, and where are we? And we feel responsible for the petty things that are left incomplete! What a joke! Nobody can die with every task perfectly complete. The only true completion can happen in the attitude of the person dying, not in the activities.

So, the power of detachment, Vairagya or Voluntary retirement is the solution to all the above. The whole life is meant for the practice of detachment. Objects are possessed not for sticking to them and being miserable in fear of losing, but to learn how to be without them. Relationships are built not for weeping over them when they break, but to learn to be indifferent to them. Because only when something is possessed, voluntary retirement from that object can be practiced. Otherwise, how can we practice renunciation of something which we do not possess? But after one is a master of renunciation, it does not matter if he possesses it or not. He can choose to be a Sanyasi or a Grihastha, it does not matter at all.

We think that if a husband who is away from home for several days says "Oh dear wife, I miss you", he is very loving. Well, even a broomstick is missed when it is not there. What is so great about it? Only he is wise who loves his wife very dearly when together but is totally indifferent when he has to be away due to circumstances. What is the use of "boo hoo"? While leaving to Mathura in a chariot, Krishna didn't look back at Yashoda or the Gopis for a dramatic and emotional filmy scene.

Thus, we have to practice Vairagya (voluntary retirement) everyday whenever an opportunity comes up. Practiced for small things every day, becomes something huge over time.

Stage 1 - Not having an object - desire inside to obtain it

Stage 2 - Having an object - living in fear of losing it and then one day weeping over its loss

Stage 3 - Having an object - absolutely fine if I lose it, I will enjoy it as long as it is with me

Only we will know what state we are in. Only we can be the true judge of our real condition. No matter how much we act and fool others, we will always know where we really are. Impossible to fool ourselves!

Only with full renunciation will we complete life. Or else death will finish our life.

32. Why So Serious?

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Have you ever wondered why Bhagavadgita is not read by majority of the population even after being accepted to be the most sacred, most important scripture? No Hindu would deny the importance of this text, but strangely he does not open this book and read the contents. He will get upset and defend if someone talks lightly about Gita, but he has no idea what is in the book. Weird! We are possessive and protective about something without knowing what is in it. “It does not matter to me what is in the book, but I shall fight against anyone who talks bad about it. After all Krishna preached it and Krishna is God”. Can we call this as unconditional faith and surrender? Nah! This is laziness and slumber. Extremes look similar – we already saw several times. We only want to use the Gita to quench our thirst of quarrel. Religion has only become a pretext for us to hate someone, not expand the feeling of love and devotion.

But then again, many do try to read. They read a few pages perhaps, and then give up. It seems boring. All big big words. If the scriptures are so important, then they should be interesting. Why are they so dull and colorless? There may be several reasons for this.

First of all, we picture it artificially. Because of that, we have lost sight of the reality of that great event. For example, just look at the following goof. There is this question “How could Krishna preach Bhagavadgita in the battlefield? Was there enough time to preach so much?” And the wise men give so many explanations. Some say “Krishna only preached a little, Vyasa wrote it in detail”. And some even go to the extent of saying “Time stopped when Krishna preached the Gita. Everything became still”. Wah! How intelligent, but how absurd! And by telling all this cock and bull stories we have pushed Gita away from reality and thus from our hearts.

Ok then what could be the answer to this? Well, it is simple common sense. Suppose you go to a hotel with your friends. How long do you think you will take to settle down and place the order? 15 minutes at a minimum, isn’t it? So, if 5 people take so much time to settle down for a simple activity of having food, how much time do you think two huge armies (of millions) will take to settle down on the battle field and arrange themselves in formations? And that too on the first day of the battle? Won’t it require at least a few hours? Do you think all soldiers came and stood in a line like zombies holding a sword in their hands at sharp 7 AM in the morning? (this is how they show in the TV serials) Just imagine the reality of the situation! Thousands of soldiers, chariots, horses, elephants were being managed and arranged. How much time would both the armies require to settle down? 2-3 hours at least?

And how much time is required to cover 700 shlokas of the Gita? Krishna didn’t sing the shlokas, he was talking. He didn’t go “Laa la laaa laaa” like a rhyme (like how we chant today). If we do “Laa la laaa laaa” and chant, still we can easily chant 40-50 shlokas in 15 minutes i.e. around 200 in one hour. So, Krishna, with normal talking, in one hour would have easily covered the contents of 350-400 shlokas. So, the entire event of Gita can comfortably take place within 2 hours time, at the most. Isn’t this simple common sense? Do we require the time to stop for such a silly thing!

So, even for the incidence of the event of the Gita, we have such irrational explanations. Then how can we possibly see rationale in the content of it?!

Secondly, we do not identify ourselves with Arjuna (he is actually our representative). We do not become one with the reality of the situation that he was in. So, the first chapter itself becomes boring. It is not just about understanding “Oh, he saw Bhishma, Drona in enemy’s side, so he went into despondency”. But it is about realizing that we undergo this type of despondency several times in our lives, even for simple things.

Remember your school-day function. It is a big function and suppose you have accepted the duty of giving a small speech (say, welcome address). You yourself accepted the duty and you know that thousands will be watching you. But now you are trembling with stage-fear. Before your speech, every moment you are spending restlessly. You probably look at the illiterate sweeper woman who is peacefully sitting behind the stage and munching some snack, least bothered about the seriousness of the function. ‘So nice it would have been to be in her position, without any worries’ you think ‘Oh, who needs this school day function? It would have been so nice to just stay at home and watch some movie peacefully’. These types of thoughts go on and on in your mind. And finally the program begins, and you go to the stage to give the welcome address. Once you start speaking, you start feeling a little comfortable. With little nervousness and little excitement, somehow you finish the job and then leave the stage. PHEW. What a relief. And now, school-day suddenly transforms into a fun-filled function for you. You watch and enjoy the various events, receive a prize or two, get praised by some for your welcome address and so on. You no more think of school-day as a miserable activity. You no more think about being in the position of that sweeper lady. Where has your Vairagya gone now?

Well, this is very similar to what Arjuna went through. He knows all the facts beforehand. He knows that it is fight for justice and that he has accepted to fight voluntarily. He is a Kshatriya and he knows that fighting is in his blood. He also knows, well before the war, that Bhishma, Drona would be on the enemy’s side. But in that last moment, a fake despondency. ‘Oh how nice it would be to just sit in a forest and meditate? Who wants all this tedious fighting business?’. He says ‘It would be better to beg instead of fighting’! Just like our school-day despondency, this is very transient and it will not stay for long. If someone had told us ‘Ok, give me the speech, I will deliver it, you do not worry’, do you think we will be happy later for doing that? We will go into more despondency! Similarly, Arjuna would have only become more dejected later if he had gone back because of this last moment weakness.

‘Oh, who wants these family problems. It would have been so nice to be a bachelor’, ‘Oh, I have a presentation in front of the clients. It would have been so nice to be just a simple programmer instead of a project leader’ – we will have some or the other type of ‘escapist’ thoughts coming to us very regularly. And they are all fake – because if you follow them, you will go into more dejection. And secondly, once you taste success, all such thoughts are no more. So, they come only when you have to face a challenge, but totally vanish when all is well. It is not genuine Vairagya (detachment). It is Tamasik, not Sattvik. Symptoms are same, but reasons are a world apart. Genuine Vairagya will remain, irrespective of whether you are in problems or comfort. So, Arjuna had gone into a fake Vairagya when he said ‘I will go to a forest and meditate’. If he did go to a forest, all the while he would have only been thinking about Kurukshetra, not God. Same as how, if we, by chance, follow our escapist thoughts, will only be restless thinking about the job that we left incomplete, rather than being peaceful.

Thirdly, we forget the context of the Gita. It becomes evident from Arjuna’s questions and Krishna’s answers that during the time of the Mahabharata, the essence of Yoga and Spirituality were totally lost. Arjuna repeatedly says ‘You are confusing me. You say Jnana is great, but at the same time you are asking me to perform this horrible activity of war’. He, like most of us, thinks that Jnana marga means simply sitting and not doing anything. He thinks it has nothing to do with our day to day life. He seems to believe that Jnana = ‘no activity’ and Karma = ‘activity’. That’s why he asks ‘If Jnana is great, why should I follow Karma’! Because, he is desperately trying to follow his version of Jnana Yoga – running away and sitting in a forest. Same as how some of us may think. Arjuna was a highly qualified King and he does not have a clear picture of spirituality! Then what to speak of the common man of those times? This situation is also very similar today. There are scholars, no doubt, but how many have realization of the truths of the scriptures? Most of them are only busy arguing over Samskrita grammar.

The first time when Arjuna asks (beginning of 3^rd chapter) this question, Krishna says there are two approaches – Saankhya and Karma – both of which lead to the same goal. And since Arjuna’s need was Karma, he explains from the perspective of Karma. And Krishna’s answer is such a common reply – “If you just withhold activities of your limbs and sit still, you will not become a Jnana Yogi. You will continue to munch inside your mind and you will become a hypocrite”. Is there anything mysterious in this answer? Perhaps, even we would have given this reply to Arjuna! After that, Krishna goes on praising ‘Jnana’ and it goes on till the end of 4^th chapter.

In the beginning of 5^th chapter, Arjuna is back at square one (again, like us) – “If you praise Karma Sanyasa, why are making me perform Karma?” (again trying to runaway in the name of Sanyasa). He again fails to see that ‘Jnana’, ‘Sanyasa’ is a common backdrop for both paths. Once there is detachment, it does not matter what path we are in – active in the world, or contemplating in the forest. It depends on individual person’s Swadharma. So, Krishna clearly says “Only fools think that Saankhya and Karma are different paths. But both lead to the same end”. And since Arjuna was demanding a clear cut answer as to which one is better for him, Krishna says ‘Karma Yoga’ is better for Arjuna. Although Krishna answers this way, all the while he emphasizes the basis for both the paths - Jnana. Since, Arjuna’s definition of activity and non-activity was very narrow, Krishna makes phrases like “Action in non-action and non-action in action”. That means, a Jnani seemingly not doing anything is actually running the whole show of the dream, whereas a seemingly active person in Ajnana is actually only a puppet and is not doing anything.

In the beginning of 8^th chapter, Arjuna’s question is highly shocking. A King, a well educated man of the times asks “What is Brahma? What is Adhyatma? What is Karma? What is Adhi-Daiva and Adhi-Bhuta?” If Krishna was in front of us today, won’t we ask these question as well? Doesn’t it become clear that Arjuna is just our representative?

The second chapter of the Gita, which is the longest of all except for the concluding chapter, is supposed to be the end of the Gita. Krishna briefly covers everything – like a synopsis – in the chapter. But since Arjuna goes on getting confused, Krishna goes on clarifying in detail in the later chapters. In second chapter, we can notice one funny thing about Arjuna. While explaining Saankhya yoga, Krishna mentions ‘Sthitaprajna’ (Jnani). And then, Arjuna asks Krishna “What are the characteristics of a Sthistaprajna? How does he talk and interact?”. Oh my God! Throughout his life he has been with Krishna, a perfect Jnani, and Arjuna asks Krishna himself this question! Idiot! Isn’t it? He is again simply meant to represent us. We, being the perfect consciousness of the Self, want to ‘know’ the characteristics of consciousness! And we want to make it a subject of learning.

This way, the whole of Gita is just a simple philosophical conversation. Not some drama scene with a serious background music. God alone knows how many soldiers, horses and elephants were running around their chariot when they were discussing. If you had a serious spiritual discussion with a friend in a bus-stop, the scene is serious only for you. Not others. Others will not say “Oh he is discussing something spiritual, let me not go near”. Who will care? Everything around you will go on normally.

Perhaps, we can read Gita much peacefully and with a sense of reality, if we read it with this attitude. Then we will be able to read it with more of common sense than with prejudice and artificial seriousness. It will then become close to our heart, our true Self.

After all, Krishna begins the teachings with a mocking smile! (Gita – 2.10) So, why so Serious?

22. Bed Time Stories

<< Previous - Hide and Seek

There is a verse in the Gita which says that the moment of death is very crucial in deciding the future of the departing soul. It was told that depending on what we think at the moment of death, our next birth will be decided. So, if we are able to hold our attention on the ‘I Am’ i.e. pure awareness without thoughts, then we attain realization (or rather, remember what we actually are). Bhagavata also tells about this through the story of Ajamila. But it looked a little childish to me. “How can just the death moment decide everything?” So, I asked our friend Krishna to explain.

Krishna – “When you go to bed everyday, before you fall asleep, what do you usually think?”

Ego – “I am a young lad. So, I think of the bright future. I see myself having romantic moments with a beautiful wife in a high-class house. I see myself roaming with her in a costly car. I imagine that I will be very successful in my profession and I become a hero in my workplace. All will be appreciating my work and praising me to the rooftops. I imagine that one day all my enemies will burn in jealousy and go mad seeing my success. Then I will look at them and laugh at them. Sometimes I even think of me going to bollywood and becoming a super star. Or becoming a great singer. I have got Bharataratna and Nobel at least 4-5 times in my imaginations. Ahh.. There are so many of them. I cannot list all”

Krishna – “No problem, I got the point. So, finally everything revolves around Girl, Money and Fame. I will come back to this in a short while. First let us see what sleep is.

When you slip into sleep, you first go into dream state. You forsake your physical body and hold onto another body – the dream body. You strongly hold onto it same as how you are now holding onto the current physical body. In the dream, you will go to any extent to protect that dream body. That body becomes your everything and you believe that if that body dies you will become extinct. So, going into dream state was similar to death and rebirth. You were always existent, you left one body and caught another body.

The very first dream that you hold on to, will depend on the thoughts that were running in your head before you went into dream. The type of dream body you get, the type of situation you will be in – all these will depend on what you were thinking just before you slipped into sleep. Then you go on dreaming one after the other in a sequence depending on what type of impressions are stronger in you for the time being.

Now, I will give you an assignment. Try contemplating on some spiritual concepts before falling asleep. Try for four days and then come to me.”

I tried to think of spirituality, ‘Who Am I’ etc during the next for days, before going to sleep. I would think for a short while, but then slowly the strong attractions would pull me and I would begin day-dreaming. Beautiful girl, money, bungalow, getting an award in front of millions of people and so on and so forth. And this way, I would slowly slip into sleep and continue the same stories in my dream state. After four days I went back to Krishna.

Krishna – “So, what happened? Could you do it?”

Ego – “No, before sleeping, the attractions of day-dreaming are very powerful. I could not push them away. I only thought of bright and colorful situations and me becoming a hero.”

Krishna – “Dying is same as going to sleep. During death, you will leave the physical body, and hold onto a subtle body (Sukshma Sharira). Subtle body is nothing but what you hold on to in the dream state. And what type of subtle body you get will solely depend on what you are thinking at the moment of death. And if you do not think of anything and only hold on to your pure awareness, then automatically you will not hold onto any body. You will be free, or rather you will realize that you are free.

But as you said, even before sleeping, it is not easy to carry out spiritual contemplations in the mind, let alone holding onto the awareness ‘I Am’. Then how can it possibly be easy when you die? People have misunderstood Ajamila’s story. You cannot possibly spend your whole life in junk and finally utter ‘Krishna’. If one has spent his whole life busy in worldly things, then that is the only thing he will think of during death. Your previous attachments will not let you off so easily. It will require constant practice and effort. That is what the whole of Yoga is about – Abhyasa and Vairagya – to ceaselessly train the mind to think of one thing and ignore the rest. Ajamila was a spiritually oriented person before he took to sensual enjoyments. His spiritual impressions were quite strong even though he got diverted for a few years. And then on his death bed, his hidden but strong impressions came out and he remembered me.

Spirituality and Self-enquiry have to enter your veins, diffuse into your blood and vibrate in every cell of your body. Only then it will effortlessly come up in your mind. Currently, it is girls, money and fame that is vibrating in every cell of your body. Throughout the day, all your discussions will finally be related to one of those three things. They are the most popular websites in the internet of you mind. So, obviously, when you do a Google search for any keyword, they will somehow lead to the websites of girl, money and fame within your mind. When you are young, you dream of your future related to these three things, and when you are old, you think of the past related to these three things. By ‘fame’ it need not be something big. It may be small and petty recognitions from the people around you, your family and relatives etc. They may be small or big – it varies only in degree – but finally you munch primarily only these three. And it is not necessary that you think only pleasant things. You are now young and unmarried. So you dream only of a pleasant future. But when you are married you will start thinking about both the joy and the difficulties associated with these three. Then ‘Girl’ will be replaced by ‘Family’ (not fully ;) ). And when you are old, you will advertise your past glory (?) or brood over the misery related to these three.”

Ego – “So, how to change this pattern of thinking? It seems to be very difficult.”

Krishna – “Arjuna asked me the same thing in the Gita and I answered with two key words – ‘Abhyasa’ and ‘Vairagya’ (Gita 6.34 and 6.35).

You cannot think of spirituality as a profession where you think of it for a specific period of time everyday and then forget about it. Yoga is a way of life. It should slowly begin to define everything about you. The internet of your mind is constantly active and opening some website (thought) or the other. Currently money, girl and fame are at the top visited websites. Now, you have to bring thoughts (websites) related to spirituality to the top of the ratings in your internet (mind). And it can be done only gradually, not suddenly. For that, you have to slowly begin controlling everything around you. The type of movies that you watch, the type of discussions that you have with others, the type of people you mingle with, the type of songs you listen to, the type of food you eat (important!), the type of books you read and so on. With this you will increase the number of hits to spiritual websites and reduce the hits to other websites. Increased hits on spiritual thoughts is Abhyasa and reduced hits on all other thoughts is Vairagya. Both have to happen together. Inch by inch you will progress and one day you will notice that your entire day is spent thinking about spirituality and in self-enquiry.”

Ego – “So, one day I will be contemplating on spiritual concepts before my sleep?”

Krishna – “Definitely. Consequently even in your dream, spirituality will continue. It is as effective as in the wakeful state. And if you are performing Self-enquiry in the wakeful state, the same enquiry will continue even in the dream state. If you realize your Self in the dream, it is same as realizing it in the wakeful state. No difference.

You can use the pre-sleep period as the yardstick of your progress. Note the kind of thoughts before sleep once in a few days. As I told some time back, do not suppress, feel bad etc when other thoughts come. It will only make them more powerful. At the same time try not involve too much when other thoughts come. You just do the necessary things during your daily activities and just patiently wait for the changes to happen in the internet of your mind. The changes are gradual and only those changes which are gradual will sustain. Rate of change may vary – fast, slow – but it has to be gradual, not a jump. No website can become #1 in a day”.

Ego – “Controlling all sense inputs - isn’t that Pratyahara?”

Krishna – “Oh good, you remember! Once that is done for some time, Dharana will become more and more evident (it will always be there, now it will only get intensified). Dharana means being able to keep the mind focused on one particular line of thoughts, or even one thought. In the beginning it may be only a fraction of a second, but slowly it will sustain for longer period of time. That means the required spiritual website has come to #1 ranking. But then still some effort is required to maintain it at #1. When that is also practiced for some time the website will become so popular that it will effortlessly stay as #1. That means the thought will come so easily and sustain that you only have to watch it. That is Dhyana – meditation. Even here, it is not that Dhyana was never done and it happened only after Dharana. Everyone does effortless thinking of a thought (say, a movie) for some time. But it fluctuates from one thought to another very often, and hence will not be evident. But, when Dhyana on one thought is also practiced for some time, then all other companies will shut down their websites since they have no visitors. Or your company will start acquiring all other websites and converting them into your websites. This will result in different layers of Samadhi. The more spirituality has spread in the internet of your mind, the more it has killed other impressions of the mind, the higher the Samadhi.

As I told you long back, all 8 limbs of Yoga are practiced together, not one after the other. There is a constant competition in your mind among the thoughts to come to #1 position. Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi keeps happening for different thoughts. But they fluctuate so rapidly among several websites as you do not know which one should be held on to. There is no stability in the stock market! One day you think very strongly about one girl and the other day another girl! So, you do Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi to a little degree on one girl for a few days. But the moment it comes to #1 and starts acquiring other thoughts of the mind, another girl comes and crashes the current girl website (thought). And after some time suddenly money will come to #1. This way it is very unstably fluctuating. So, it is impossible to get Samadhi with worldly things as you do not hold on to one object for long time. It is only possible with the concept of God, devotion, self-enquiry etc.”

Ego – “Looks like a long process!”

Krishna – “If you blindly and mechanically do it, it is long. But Self-Enquiry is the easiest way to perform all this. When the curiosity ‘Who Am I’ burns in you, automatically you will stop visiting all junk websites in the head. All the above will happen very fast. Or if you are inclined towards devotion, then also it is easier and faster. And if you are both an enquirer and a devotee, then it is super-rapid!”

17. सर्वं ज्ञानप्लवेनैव...

<< Previous - And Here We Go...

“Aham Brahmasmi" - "I am Brahman". Ah, all junk philosophy. If it is true, then why do I not feel that I am Brahman? You say I am an ocean, then why do I feel like a miserable wave?

In computer programming, assignment of variables is a very tricky thing. Consider the following:

int i, G

i = 1

G = 1000

Now, if I write i = G, the value of G will come to i and both will become 1000. Whereas, if I write G = i, the values of i will be assigned to G and both will become 1. So, both are equations of the same variables, but mean opposite things.

Whenever we say “Aham Brahmasmi”, our assignment of variable is always wrong: G = i. We want to hold onto the miserable body and want that to become eternal and permanent. We want to hold onto the individuality, and want that to become the infinite. We do not want to remove our false notion (of individuality) and find the reality. Instead, we want to retain the false notion (individuality) and make that itself as reality. We do not want to diffuse 1 into 1000, but want to fit 1000 into 1. We do not want to diffuse our ego into God, but we want to fit God into our ego to become a superhero. And with this opposite assignment of variables, I want to get Self-Realized. How can it ever happen? And hence the wave cries “Boo hoo, where are you ocean? Ocean-realization is so difficult”. Is this misery really a misery? Does this deserve any sympathy?

As a modern example, I am going to take help from the movie ‘Matrix Revolutions’. There is this war that happens between the humans and the machines. If you observe the machines properly, you may note one interesting point - Apparently there are millions of machines, BUT there is just ONE machine consciousness, the Machine Mainframe. As Morpheus says - “A singular consciousness that spawned an entire race of machines”. There is only one ‘I’ on the machine side - one that orders and obeys, leads and follows - The one that is everything and everywhere.

Probably there is no other better modern example to explain Advaita. One consciousness, but many in appearance. Now let us go a step further and imagine something that actually did not happen in the movie. Let us say that one of the individual machines (sentinels) begins to think that it is a separate entity. It believes that it is now making choices and taking decisions on its own. Because of that, this machine automatically bring itself down from the widespread existence (of millions of sentinels) to a very limited existence of one sentinel. The machine says “I am this body” (showing its small robot body) and thinks that it is no more connected to any other machine or the mainframe. But the fact is that the mainframe is all the time having control over it. The puny individual machine resists, it wants to have free will and freedom. But even the resistance is actually being prompted by the same mainframe! All is under the control of the same consciousness.

Oh, so I will lose my free will when I get Self-Realization? I get scared on losing individuality. But who says that I, as the body, have free will now? I only think that I have! I am like that sentinel machine which is all the time being prompted and controlled by the mainframe. Hmm, this is so disheartening. That means I am just a puppet. NO! Again I am desperately holding onto the body and making this statement. Change the assignment of the variables! Look from the other side. I am not a puppet, I am running the whole show. I am actually the mainframe itself. There are no many ‘I’s. There is only one mainframe. And that is the real ‘I’.

If we accept the existence of an entity called God, then automatically we have to give up the idea of free will. Because, if I, as the individual body, have a free will, then that means that the God does not know what I am going to do next. A confused God? So free will of the individual ego is immediately ruled out. But there is one ultimate free will. 'I' am actually running the whole show, the whole dream. In the dream I cry that I have free will as a body, whereas the truth is that the whole dream is under my control.

I have to only wake up from the dream and understand that I was the entire dream. I was the director, the producer, the hero, the co-actor and the villain. I was the transactions in the dream, I was the contents of the dream, I was the objects of the dream. The whole dream is within me. I am not within the dream. That was only a stupid notion. I assigned a body to myself within the dream and said "I am this body alone". And because of that I think I suffer in the dream. The dream illustration would require a separate post, because it will go quite deep into the rabbit hole.

The sentinel machine, now to get rid of its misery, only has to constantly search for the source signals which is controlling its tiny body. And that is Self-Enquiry. Searching for the source of the feeling of 'I'. And when the machine finds its true source to be the mainframe, and not the tiny body, the dream is over for it. The individuality is no more.

Ramana Maharshi’s answers to the questions filled with weakness helps any spiritual aspirant drive away his whining tendency and excuse-finding nature. There are several excuses, wrong notions and weaknesses that a spiritual aspirant displays very frequently. Ramana’s way of giving answers have been given below, with little modifications and aggression added. This is only a trailer, you can always enjoy the full feast by buying his books which are filled with hundreds of such conversations.

Excuse 1

Q: Shankaracharya talks of Advaita. Whereas Ramanujacharya speaks of Vishishtadvaita. What to believe and follow?

A: Ohho! Poor fellow. So you are not progressing because of the confusions created by others. Anyway, in all the philosophies, Jivatma and Paramatma are both accepted. Then first find your own Jivatma. Then you will have plenty of time to decide whether to follow Advaita, Dvaita or Vishishtadvaita.

Excuse 2

Q: There is so much misery in the world. Instead of helping the society, should I spend time in Self-Enquiry? Is that not selfish?

A: First help yourself and solve your own misery. Secondly, without knowing what is Self-Realization, how do you decide that it will not help the world? You are saying it is selfish, but at the same time you have no idea what it is. When you wake up from the dream which was filled with misery around, is there any misery left? Who were those people in misery in your dream? Were they different from you?

Weakness 1

Q: Self Realization is very difficult.

A: Who is it that is saying this? Is it a different Self that is making this statement? Are there two Selfs?

Q: But I do not feel my Self.

A: Oh, so you are talking without feeling that you exist? You are not aware of your Self now?

Q: I feel my Self, but I do not feel any bliss, as the scriptures proclaim.

A: That is because you have not gone to the source from where ‘I’ springs. After it springs you are immediately associating that with something transient – ego – which is a wave on the ocean. But it is actually the ocean that is the source of your awareness. Wave is just an infinitesimal shape on it.

Q: How to go to the source?

A: You are already the source. You have to just remember it. With intense curiosity, search the source of ‘I’ in you and your ego will be pulled and diffused into it one day.

Weakness 2

Q: Mind is very difficult to control.

A: Whose mind?

Q: My mind.

A: What do you mean by ‘me’?

Q: …

A: You yourself say that it is ‘my mind’. Then try to answer this question – What do you mean by ‘I’? Search for it and all will be answered.

Weakness 3

Q: How much ever you say, Self-Realization is very rare. It happens for one in a million people.

A: Again the statement is being made from body consciousness. You are counting the bodies of the saints. This counting itself is the weakness. If there is only one mainframe, one Self, how many times does the Self has to get realized. Is there any count?

Weakness 4

Q: I am such a horrible person. I have committed so many sins and mistakes. I can never think of Self-Realization.

Suddenly, form nowhere Krishna comes running into the scene (Funny guy, I know)…

Krishna: Wait, wait, I will answer that…

अपि चेदसि पापेभ्यः सर्वेभ्यः पापकृत्तमः ।

सर्वं ज्ञानप्लवेनैव वृजिनं सन्तरिष्यसि ॥४.३६॥

Greatest sinner of all? No worries Sir! You can take a joy ride on the boat of Jnana (knowledge) and cross them all (And I will be your boatman and guide you. I am running out of business, I am in need of some passengers, you see).

Q: What if I fall out from your boat in between?
Krishna: Aggghh... Can't you even sit still? Do I have to do everything for you? Should I even sit for you? Anyway, nobody has fallen till date.

Once I wake up, does it matter how many sins I committed within the dream?! Does good or bad of the dream carry any meaning? Who set the rules of good and bad? (refer 'The Amazing Conversation')

The blazing fire of knowledge will burn everything into ashes (Gita 4.37)

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12. The Upturned Priorities

<< Previous - The Restless Robot

2000 – “Oh Congrats on becoming a mother. Boy or a Girl?”

2003 – “How is your son, have you put him in a play school?”

2004 – “Have you enrolled him into a school?”

2007 – “How good is he in studies?”

2015 – “What grade did he get in his 10^th? Taking science or commerce?”

2017 – “What rank did he get in the exams? Which medical/engineering college?”

2021 – “Which company did he get placed into? Good salary?”

2023 – “Are you thinking of getting him married?”

2024 – “Have you not started searching for a girl for him?” (Now getting seemingly worried)

2025 – “Didn’t find any suitable match yet?” (Anxiety building further)

2026 – “Oh great news, you finally found a nice girl for him” (Ah, what a relief!)

2028 – “Oh Congrats, you have become grandmother”

2031 – “How is your grandson, have you put him in a play school?”

2032 – “Have you enrolled your grandson into a school?”

I was a little perplexed, I suddenly interrupted and asked “What happened to the son who you were enquiring about for decades? Why suddenly stopped asking about him? Did he die immediately after having a child?”

“Arre what nonsense are you speaking? What is there to further enquire about him? He is settled na?” came the reply.

“Oh! Is that the end then? He achieved the end of the world?”

“He is working abroad and earning millions. He has two houses in his name and one house in his wife’s name. He has a kid going to school. What else to ask about him?”

“Ok so, we are now just waiting for him to die? Countdown?”

“Hey who are you? Why are you speaking rubbish?”

“Then what else do you mean? You said nothing else remains to enquire further. That means he has to just live his life without anything further to achieve. That means death can only be the next notable event. You will certainly enquire when he dies, won’t you? So effectively, you are waiting for him to die then!”

No doubt, I didn’t get a reply to that and was shooed away immediately. But I hope at least you got the point! Common sense says that only when something is complete we stop enquiring about it. And in today’s world we strongly believe that money, property and family makes us complete. There remains nothing to ask, we think, if a man/woman has sufficient money and a family.

I wondered what is the answer to my questions above. I asked Krishna as usual and got some answers. The following is the summary of he said.

There is a big confusion between the two – ‘Necessary Condition’ and ‘Sufficient Condition’. For e.g. being indivisible by 3 is a necessity for a number to be a prime number but it is certainly not sufficient. It needs to be indivisible by many more numbers for us to ensure that it is a prime. Only a sufficient condition can fulfill the purpose. If we satisfy the ‘Sufficient condition’ we automatically satisfy the ‘Necessary condition’, but if we satisfy a ‘Necessary condition’ we cannot guarantee that sufficiency has been achieved.

By now, you may have noticed the irony of the terminology – ‘Necessary condition’ does not guarantee anything! But it says it is ‘necessary’! Look at the example given above again, it may be clear how ironical it is. It is in fact only a part of the sufficient condition.

So, that’s how the mad marathon is on. Money, according to us, is a necessary condition. Money is a necessity – looks perfectly logical. But we fail to notice that money, by itself, guarantees the fulfillment of nothing! But still it is ‘Necessary’! Cannot deny that! Paradox!

We ourselves say (as if we have had some divine vision) – “Oh Lord, you are all pervading, what exists without you? You are in everything, blah blah”. Then, why don’t we try to attain this entity called God? It looks like a ‘Sufficient Condition’, isn’t it? So, if we attain God, then, as per the definition of God, we must attain everything, including money and all that. Then why not try for the ‘Sufficient condition’ rather than wasting time on the seemingly ‘Necessary condition’?

Krishna said he has told this in the Gita as ‘Preyas’ and ‘Shreyas’. Preyas is that which looks like a necessity but guarantees nothing. All material achievements, he called as Preyas. And Shreyas is that by attaining which you fulfill the purpose once for all. Self-Realization, he called as Shreyas.

But then I asked him “But what should I do till I attain this sufficiency? I need food, shelter etc.”

Krishna said “That’s why they are named as ‘Necessary Condition’. They are a necessity only while you try to fulfill the Sufficient condition. Fulfill those minimum necessities required by the body and always keep trying to fulfill the Sufficient condition. But if you stop there itself – with money, food etc – you are a fool. They are like the scenery that you see during the journey, not the destination. These scenery should just be enjoyed and left alone. Do not stick to them. If you stop your vehicle every five minutes and keep taking photographs on the roadside, you will only delay reaching the destination. Nevertheless you will reach, that is inevitable, but why delay once you know all this!”

“Ohho, so this is the problem.” I said to myself “That’s why no one enquires ‘How is your meditation going on’ or ‘How is your Self-Enquiry going on?’. Because they are confused that money alone is the sufficient condition. Everyone is busy relishing the beauty (?) of the cat, dog and the crows whereas they have forgotten that they will get to see the Majestic Tiger if they proceed further.”

This reminded me of the following two incidents mentioned in the ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ by Paramahamsa Yogananda.

Babaji says to Lahiri Mahashaya – Only a few know that spiritual world encompasses and surpasses the material pleasures. But material world is only an illusion and is unreal (because it, by itself, guarantees nothing).

A disciple says to Nagendra Natha Baduri “Guruji, you are extraordinary. You have renounced wealth and pleasures of the world for seeing God” for which Baduri Mahashaya says “You have upturned the fact! I gave up only the infinitesimal (money and pleasures) to gain infinite bliss. Is that renunciation? In fact, the renunciation by the worldly materialists is true renunciation, they are real Tyagis. Just for a handful of material toys, they give up the eternal and infinite spiritual wealth!”

9. The Rise of the Common Sense

<< Previous - The Age-Old Whim of Old-Age

Fan – “Sir, you are great. You are a big inspiration for people like me”

Writer – “Oh Thanks. So, which book of mine do you like in particular?”

Fan –  “You are a wonderful personality. I adore you very much”

Writer – “Thank you, Thank you, which of my writings is your favorite?”

Fan – “Can there be such a talented writer as you? Impossible! I worship you!”

Writer – "Hmm... Have you read any of my books?"

Fan – "You received Jnana Peetha award, you were honored with Padma Bhushan, your glory has spread far and wide"

Writer – (to himself) “Seems to be a madcap, I better keep quiet”

What do you call such a person? A fan? Well, he seems to be a lunatic. But what if I say most of us do this all the time, if not all of us? Don’t you believe? Hmm, I guessed so…

Devotee – “Krishna you are great, I love you”

Common Sense – “Ok good. What teaching of Krishna do you like in particular?”

Devotee – “Oh Sri Krishna, Govinda, Gopala, I am your great devotee”

Common Sense – “Devotee? Then you must be knowing what Krishna taught. Have you tried to follow anything in your life?”

Devotee – “Oh Murari, Madhusudana, I surrender to you”

Common Sense – “Dear Sir, ok, I got your point. I am asking have you read anything from his teachings? At least Bhagavadgita?”

Devotee – “Oh Giridhari, Mukunda, you tamed Kaalinga, you lifted a mountain on your little finger, can there be anyone as great as you?”

Common Sense – “I better keep quiet, you seem to be deaf”

Looks familiar now? Who is this self-proclaimed devotee trying to fool? Himself or Krishna? Probably neither. He is perhaps trying to make an impression with the onlookers so that they can praise his ‘great devotion’.

But when I did this, luckily for me, my common sense rose in rage and questioned me:

“Oh self proclaimed great devotee of Sri Krishna, if you love him so much, then have you tried to know what Krishna wants to tell you? Why are you going on jabbering, not stopping to listen to his words? Why are you going on pouring water, milk, honey on him but least care for his words? How would you feel suppose your wife or son does the same to you? How would you feel if they do not listen to a single thing that you say but want to give you a bath and serve you? Is that what you want in the name of love and respect? A bath? Of course, no problem is receiving service from your wife, but if she doesn’t care for any of your words, will you be pleased with any of her service? What is primary? Listen to you or give you a bath? Will that service not become a nuisance? Similarly, perform worship, perform all the rituals, no problem, but why have you forgotten the primary and necessary thing? Your devotion and rituals are dummy until you really care to listen to him. Whether Krishna was a real person or not is not a concern at the moment. In either case, Bhagavadgita is real and is still available for you to read.”

I was taken aback. I recovered and said “I do have Bhagavadgita at home”, but only to get further bashed up by my common sense:

“Is this book meant to be kept in the altar so that it gets discolored with yellow and red water? Book is meant to be read or worshipped? If you do both, worship and read, I can accept. But only worship? Are you a crackpot?”

Now, I began seeing my stupidity. But ego doesn’t want to give up. I said “I have read a little…”

“Oh, have you now? Very good. And after that have you made at least one teaching of the Gita as your own by following it in your life?”

I had no reply and kept silent in shame.

“Wonderful. So, you think Krishna preached Bhagavadgita so that one day someone like you can mug it up and demonstrate your memory power? Or print it in a book and put red, yellow water on it? Is that what you think Krishna had in mind?”

Now I gathered all the guts left in me and put forth my final argument “It is difficult to understand, very abstract…”

“Ahhh, say that. Accept the truth. Do not try to hide your inability with dummy worship and rituals. You did not understand the Gita because you never asked me, your common sense. You were busy with your great intellectual abilities and sharp brain which you are always proud of. It only made you pompous. And when the intellect failed to understand some new concept, it did not let you honestly accept its failure. Instead, it suggested you to intelligently conceal its inability under the roof of worship and rituals. Attending classes regularly is good but not sufficient to grasp the subject, necessary thing is the zeal to learn the subject. Similarly, rituals are good but they alone are not sufficient for your growth. Mere attendance will do no good to pass the subject. Dummy faith will not survive for long. It is bound to fall. Until me, your common sense does not agree with you, you cannot carry on with it for long. And when blind faith fails, you go to the other extreme – blind disbelief. You will then conceal the failure of the intellect in the name of being scientific. ‘It doesn’t exist because I cannot prove it in the laboratory’. Great scientist of the 21st century! I do not know how many times I have to tell you – follow the middle path, strike a balance. Are there only two options always? White and Black? Either blind faith or extremely logical? No other color in between? Ask me, your common sense, who is always there but crushed mercilessly, and I shall tell you. Get rid of the fake mask of ego, and accept its failure honestly to yourself. Surrender, and then I shall rise, your common sense.”

यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत ।

अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम् ॥४.७॥

परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् ।

धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे ॥४.८॥

“Whenever there is a deterioration of Dharma – balance, and whenever there is an increase in Adharma – imbalance due to inclination to extremes, I shall rise in you! To kill all that is extreme and aggressive, to protect all that is moderate and rational, and to bring a balance, I shall rise again and again - 4.7-4.8”

“Yes, Krishna is nothing but me, your common sense, who is always within you, the charioteer and guide of the otherwise confused Arjuna, Nara, Man, ego! Nara, who at one point boasts of his valor, and the next moment trembles in depression on the battlefield – always in extremes!”

And this left me dumbfounded! “You were always in me? And I was searching for you in the temples?”. Eyes were moist, hands were numb and feet were frozen. I, the ego, for the first time honestly bowed down and said, “I surrender, please guide me Krishna!”

And when I opened Bhagavadgita, the book, as if it knew what I had in my mind, opened at a page that read:

...शिष्यस्तेऽहं शाधि मां त्वां प्रपन्नम् ॥२.७॥

"...I am your disciple, I surrender, guide me - 2.7"