CHAPTER IV
The lands of the
mental world were ploughed with selfless actions; cleared of all the weeds of
desires, stones of arrogance and all other wasteful things.
A shower from the
heaven had drenched those purified lands with the waters of devotion. Now the
lands were ready for the seeds of ‘Knowledge Supreme’!
इदं शरीरं कौन्तेय
क्षेत्रमित्यभिधीयते
एतद्यो वेत्ति
तं प्राहुः क्षेत्रज्ञ इति तद्विदः ॥
Kaunteya! This body is known as the ‘Field’.
He who knows it is known as the ‘Knower of the
Field.’
Krishna spoke:
“Arjuna! True
knowledge consists of the knowledge of the ‘field and its knower’.
My friend! The body with all the ten sense organs, the
mental faculty, the intellect, and ego; with all thoughts, all feelings, all
deliberations, all objects of desire, all sensations, all the virtues, all the
vice, knowledge, and ignorance is known as the ‘Field’.
The Field – here one exhausts his ‘Vaasanaas’; here one gets
the opportunity to develop new Vaasanaas for a better future; here the fruits
of his actions will be experienced.
Whether the harvest
is good or bad depends on the sincere efforts of the farmer; his
capacity to clear the field of all vices and desires; his capacity to direct
the good waters of virtues and selfless actions towards the weed-less field;
his selection of proper seeds of knowledge which will bear the fruits of
liberation in the future; his capacity to constantly pay attention to the
healthy growth o f his crops; his
steadfastness; his sincerity; his devotion; and lastly the most essential tool
for the cultivation of the land –namely
the ‘tool of knowledge’.
‘Knowledge of the Truth’ is very essential for any aspirant
who sincerely seeks to reap the ‘fruit of liberation’. One who knows the
‘Supreme Self -the Great Goddess Tripuraa’ as his ‘own Self’ existing as the ‘support
of the field of experiences’, he alone becomes qualified to merge into the
‘Supreme Self’. He alone is the ‘supreme experiencer’ of the ‘field of
experiences’; and he knows that he does not experience anything while
experiencing the ‘field of experiences’.”
कार्यकारणकर्तृत्वे हेतुः प्रकृतिरुच्यते
पुरुषः सुखदुःखानां भोक्तृत्वे हेतुरुच्यते
॥
Prakriti
(Insentient nature) is said to be
the action, purpose of action and doer ship.
Purusha
(sentient principle) is said to be
the cause of experiencing joy and pain.
Arjuna struggled hard to understand the subtle meanings of
the words which flowed like a torrent from the mouth of Krishna.
Krishna tried explaining the same ideas in a
more simplified way to the highly bewildered mind of Arjuna.
“Arjuna! The entire world of experiences can be divided into
Prakriti and Purusha; the Nature and the Person; the Experienced and the
Experiencer; the Power and the Source; the Manifest and the Unmanifest; the Three Gunas and their Substratum; the
three states of Jagrat Svapna Sushupti ( waking, dream and deep sleep) and
the fourth state of Turiya (Transcendence); Shakti and Shiva.
The entire phenomenon of Creation is nothing but the play of
Tripura Devi, the ‘Supreme Self’ manifesting as all the individual selves and
also as the multifarious fields of experiences. When one realizes his ‘true
self’ as united with the ‘non-experiencing player’, he is freed forever from
the shackles of experiences entwined inseparably with the three Gunas.”
सत्त्वं रजस्तम
इति गुणाः प्रकृतिसम्भवाः
निबध्नन्ति महाबाहो
देहे देहिनमव्ययम् ॥
The
three qualities arising from the Prakriti namely –
Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas,
bind the
immutable Self in the body, Hey Mighty Armed!
Krishna now shifted the
topic to the ‘Three Gunas’.
Krishna never felt a loss
of words when elucidating the three Gunas- Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas – the three
qualities of illumination, perturbation and darkness. He gave an elaborate
description of the qualities and their effects on the human minds; the binding
nature of these three ropes and also the method of untangling oneself from
them.
Krishna continued:
“My friend! Nobody, not even a realized man is free these
‘three Gunas’ as long as he is in contact with the body, mind, and the intellect;
but a knower is unaffected by their existence. An ignorant man however performs
every action in his life prompted by any one of these ‘Gunas’. While the former
drives the chariot keeping these horses under control, the latter allows them
to go berserk resulting in untold disasters. It is not that only one quality is
found in any one individual at all times; each individual is continuously acted
upon by one or the other of the three Gunas - every moment of his life.
One of the three qualities remains predominant in his
mainstream of actions and he is termed Saatvic, Raajasic or a Taamasic person
accordingly. The society also can be divided into the four main categories of
intellectual, political, mercantile, and the working class. None of them is either
superior or inferior; but they only contribute to the welfare of the society
like the four strong pillars of a building.
The three ‘qualities’ which always drag a man towards
freedom or bondage, if controlled willfully can be harnessed to produce the
most prosperous and advanced society. Instead of developing a ‘false ego’,
either a superior or inferior one because of the predominance of one particular
quality, if a person can use it to bring out the utmost good within and without, the world will be no
longer a dungeon filled with torture-cells.
The actions performed in any one of the births - the
innermost desires pressurized into the deep caves of the heart in any one of
the births - results in the predominance of one quality in particular in the
next ensuing birth. The ‘environment where one is born’- the ‘circumstances
which seem to arise from nowhere’ - may appear to be fixed and overpowering;
but still there is ‘freedom’ to ‘remain free in the mind’.
A person can learn the art of remaining unaffected by the
changing patterns the life; can learn to love his family and friends to the
utmost, yet with an understanding of the ephemeral nature of the relations; can
learn to seek the Highest at all times, even in the darkest moments of his
life; can learn not to fall into the deep wells of depression and dejection
arising due to the binding factors experienced in life.
For, each birth is a field, where one collects the bricks
for the mansion to be built in the future. One deserves the life that befalls
his lot, for ‘he chooses it himself’.
Man creates his own destiny!
His own unfulfilled desires give him the life that he is
chained with! God has made this one golden rule-‘Whatever you want will be
yours!’
My dear Arjuna! When
destiny calculates the amount of desires and the meritorious acts which can
fulfill them and the de-meritorious acts which obstruct them; a life-experience
of an individual is created accordingly; and also add to it also the results of
his misdeeds! Can destiny be blamed for the life you are burdened with?”
Krishna gave an exhaustive
lecture on the three qualities and the means of rising above them. He even
described in detail, the virtues which lead one upward and the vices that take
a man downhill.
Krishna felt tired. He sat
down for a refreshing breath of air. Arjuna also sat quietly close to him
reflecting on the profound philosophy offered to him from the ‘man who was
God’.
The sun moved on.
***
Arjuna was deeply thinking. His mind was still troubled by
the one unavoidable factor called ‘death’!
‘Is death one unavoidable hammer blow to all human
endeavors? Everybody in this world, even a knower is puzzled by the mysterious
phenomenon called death. Is it a full-stop or a comma or a semicolon?
This is the ever rising question troubling all the minds
everywhere.’
Arjuna worded his doubt to Krishna.
Krishna answered him with utmost patience.
“Do not worry about after-life, O Arjuna!
Being a warrior you may end up in the most wonderful heaven
of manifold enjoyments attainable by some of the great achievers of this world.
Anyhow death is not a skeleton waiting to gobble you up!
Death is just a turning point in everybody’s life; just a
rest place where you change your horses; the horses of course are not chosen by
the so-called God but only by you; but the rule is that you will get the horse
which you deserve and not the one you wish for; your own merits and demerits,
your level of knowledge and ignorance decide your future course.
The path of the
meritorious souls after the death of their bodies is filled with light and
brightness depending on their level of knowledge and faith; whereas the path of
the ignorant ones with only a few merits to back them up, will be dark and
smoky leading towards repeated cycles of
births and deaths.
The former one is the path of the Knowers and leads one
gradually towards the eternal bliss of Brahman, for, they have freed themselves
from the shackles of action through detached actions. The latter is the path of
those ‘bound by the shackles of action’ through ‘attachment to the fruits of
the actions’.
Therefore these action-bound souls get dragged from one
fruit to the other and never ever escape the ‘eternal wheel of action’.
These two paths are allegorically referred to in the
scriptures as the solar and lunar paths respectively. Therefore my dear friend,
stop shunning death as an unknown enemy.
The individual soul is deathless; you are indeed deathless;
I am also deathless; in fact nobody ever dies! Death exists as a myth; as an
unknown dark corner frightening all without exception; never existing in
reality.
Who dies? Who lives? Is the body – the ‘true you’?
Analyze and learn to find the true nature of your Self. When
you know that ‘you never die’, then, ‘You do not die’!”
Arjuna listened without missing even a single word.
अनन्याश्चिन्तयन्तो मां ये जनाः पर्युपासते
तेषां नित्याभियुक्तानां योगक्षेमं वहाम्यहम् ॥
I will
take care of all the needs of those
those
people who worship me with devotion
thinking about me alone in their minds
ridding themselves of all other thoughts,
and who are
absorbed in me always.
‘Was really death just a myth? Then what was he bothered
about? Whether he dies or the other elders standing on the enemy front die, it
does not actually matter! Every one who departs from this body would be only
continuing his journey towards the ‘Highest’. His heart suddenly felt light! He
wanted to laugh aloud like a child. He had understood that the ghost which
frightened him till then was just a harmless pillar seen in darkness. Death
could frighten him no more. A smile hitherto unseen lighted up his face with a
unique luster. But still a doubt arose again from the innermost depths of his
being. ‘Who will guide him through all these journeys; through the countless
births; through the multifarious experiences of hells and heavens?’
His wide forehead was creased with lines of worry. He was so
much absorbed in his own thoughts that he did not notice his friend observing
him with utmost compassion.
A strong dark hand rested on his shoulder.
“Arjuna!” A tender
voice whispered. “What is there to worry about so much?”
God spoke to the ‘man’!
“Here in this world of course , I don a human costume and
appear to be bound by limitations like you; but as I exist as your own ‘Self’ being
the ‘Supreme Ruler of the creation’, I exist everywhere at all times.
When I am there why should you have any fear?”
Arjuna felt the squeezing embrace of his friend.
Krishna spoke no more. But
in those few words Arjuna had heard all the promises that a God could bestow on
a man! Arjuna knew- ‘he was saved’! He knew- ‘everyone was saved’!’ For, which
mother has left her child uncared for? Which husband has left the wife uncared
for? When has love ever failed? Love saves! Devotion saves!
His eyes wet with tears; his voice choking; his legs
trembling; unable to hold himself; the
great Arjuna collapsed into the strong hands of the Savior.
Krishna indeed had revealed
the ‘supremely secret means’ of attaining the Highest Goal thought the easiest
path – ‘The Path of Love’! A ‘lover’ is always saved! A ‘devotee’ is always
saved!
Arjuna’s eyes bathed the broad chest of his friend with
tears. Krishna held him tightly till his
friend’s entire sadness poured out. Soon Arjuna was lost to this world. A
hitherto un-known bliss penetrated all his being.
He was ‘the ocean’ now! Silence reigned. Time stood
still!
The first one to stir out of the silence was the Master! He
continued his discourse as if nothing much had happened. Arjuna? He knew
something had happened to him at least! With an unknown joy lurking inside him
he listened to his friend’s words.
Krishna spoke: “Arjuna!
About your question regarding death; understand this much; one who has faced
death while living; one who has lost the body-idea while embodied; he alone has
conquered death and is ‘liberated while living’; he never dies again.
Like a pot kept in the ocean-floor, which is filled within
and without with waters; which remains the same even when the pot is broken; so
also the ‘Knower of the Self’- the ‘JeevanMukta’- the ‘one who is liberated
while living’- just remains in his true state of deathlessness; having lost the
body-idea while living, he never even notices the death of his body when the
so-called death occurs to his body as perceived by the world.”
अयतिः श्रद्धयोपेतः योगाच्चलितमानसः
अप्राप्य योगसंसिद्धिम् कां गतिं तात गच्छति
॥
Though endowed with faith,
if one lacks discipline and his mind swerves from the path of Yoga,
he will not be able to attain the ordained goal;
then what will happen to him, My dear friend?
“But, suppose he is not realized?” – Arjuna questioned.
Arjuna knew in his heart of hearts that the blissful
experience of ‘Samadhi’ a few minutes back was a gift from his friend. He still
had to gain it with his own hard efforts.
Krishna answered: “If he
has not realized; if he has not completed his spiritual journey in the present
life of his, then he continues his spiritual journey even after the ‘death of
the body’ guided by the higher beings.”
“Suppose he is a devotee
attached to a particular form of a deity…?”- Arjuna asked.
“Then he will experience the
company of that particular deity whom he adores in his mind!”
“But which is the better path – the attainment of the worlds
of divinities or the realization of one’s self as the non-dual Brahman?”
“Arjuna! Which is better -God
with form or God without form?
That Supreme Principle of Brahman – how can ‘That’ have
forms?
Can you call ‘That’ formless, which manifests as all the
names and forms and fills all the mental spaces without a gap?
Do I have a ‘form’?
Yes!
Am I ‘formless’?
Yes!
But how can I – who am beyond the barriers of time and
space, be contained within a form? But,
at the same time I have the Supreme Power to manifest in any form I like!
The Upanishads sing of me as ‘formless’ without ‘duality’;
but if a devotee lacks the capacity to comprehend my true nature I manifest as
the particular deity which he adores! No matter to what gender, to what caste,
to what level of intelligence one belongs; the ‘lover of the Supreme’ never
perishes!
May he or she be the worst sinner, condemned to endless
agonies for an eternal life-time; even then if that person is capable of
washing away one’s sins in the pure waters of repentance and is capable of
cultivating the simplest form of love and attachment towards the Divinity with
form or without form, then the doors of ‘Knowledge and Bliss’ open up for that
sincere aspirant!”
Krishna was indeed lost!
He was melting in the love of the countless devotees who
called out his myriad names with deep love; those children of his who
remembered with extreme devotion, his innumerable forms! He was at that moment
not the cowherd-philosopher of Dwaaraka, but the Supreme Father, the Supreme
Mother; the Supreme Brahman: the Self of all! In fact he was all that the world
called him as ….; knew him as….!
He poured out supremely sacred words describing the glory of
the indescribable bond of love between the devotee and his God! He showered
supremely sacred promises of protection and care for those hearts filled with
the holy waters of love!
A slight drizzle had cooled the sweltering heat of the
morning sun.
Both the God and the devotee were lost! Had they found
each other?
No words were spoken!
A ‘koel’ (cuckoo bird) somewhere from a distant tree incessantly cried
out for its lover in a honeyed voice!
Will the call be answered? It never lost hope!
God himself had
proclaimed, ‘Love is God’!
Under the Kadamba tree, the two lovers-, the God and the
devotee - sat in silent union! Their eyes were half-closed in an unknown
rapture.
The dark cloud which contained within itself all the
waters in abundance held them at the tip of its lotus eyes; the one who bathed
in the holy waters of the heavens was unashamedly pouring out all the waters at
the lotus feet of the so-called ‘ordinary cowherd’ of those times! Could any
worship be better than that?
The world was silent!
Millions of unspoken words were exchanged in those sacred
moments!
The two lovers were unified as one!
The bodies, names, the battlefield, the war, the world –
all were forgotten!
There was no Arjuna! There was no Krishna!
There was no lover; nor the beloved!
There was only love…. love ....Supreme love!
‘Love’ – the ‘Highest Order’ of all times!
‘Love’ – the ‘Highest means’ of attaining the ‘Highest
Bliss’!
Bliss! Love! Love! Bliss!
It was Arjuna who broke the Supreme state of Silence! The
lover still had many questions to ask; the lover wanted to know; which form was
best suited for such a love.
Krishna…! What
could he say!
In which form could the ‘formless one’ to be loved?
‘Where’ he was not? ‘What’ he was not?
He was Sun, Moon, and stars!
He was the light! He was Knowledge!
He was Trinities ruling the Tri-worlds!
He was Shiva, the ‘Destroyer’ and ‘Consort of
Daakshaayini’.
He was Vishnu, the ‘Protector’ and ‘Consort of
Padmaavati’.
He was Kaartikeya Brahma, the ‘Creator’ and ‘Consort of
Vaani’.
He was Rudra.
He was Durga.
He was Kaali.
He was all the Gods.
He was all that a man could imagine his God to be!
He was space; wind; fire; water; earth.
He was the beginning, middle and end of everything.
He was the very speech that filled the world with
Knowledge.
He was Victory. He was Defeat.
He was all the hosts of great beings who adorn the world
with their intellectual prowess and meditative powers.
He was the mind. He was the body. He was the intellect.
He was the Supreme Self which manifests as everything
that was, that is and will be!
Krishna tried his best
again.
He expressed; he explained within the limitation of language
- his glory, his greatness, his power of manifestation.
[Describe to a child about a wondrous fantasy land that
really exists! What happens?
The child wants to go there immediately at that very moment;
and the parent obliges. Would the child be capable of comprehending or
understanding the joy of that fantasy land? Would the child be capable of
withstanding the shock of the joy?
The child did not bother; and the parent was too kind to
deny the vision.]
Arjuna pleaded with the Master to give him the ‘Cosmic
Vision’ of the Para Brahman. Krishna complied.
