Sathya Sai Baba Geetha Vahini - Chapter 4

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Sathya Sai BabaGeetha Vahini

Chapter IV

Arjuna was still doubt-ridden. "O Lord," he began, "You said that the bodily

changes are like the stages of wakefulness, dream and sleep. But we do not

forget our experiences when we awake from deep sleep. The experiences of

previous births are destroyed in memory by the incident called death." Krishna

replied that it was not possible to recall to memory all experiences, but it

was possible to recall some. For the Atma persisted, though the vehicle

changed.

Arjuna then shifted to another point; a point which pesters many besides Arjuna.

That is why Krishna says, "Dheerasthathra na muhyathi, the Dheera is not deluded

by this." He does not say Arjuna should not be deluded by this. He intends to

teach all wavering minds. Krishna solves every doubt as soon as it arises. He

said, "Arjuna! While passing through the three stages, Buddhi somehow manages

to keep some points in its hold. But it too is destroyed when death comes to

the body. At one stroke, all is forgotten. Memory is the function of the

intellect, not the Atma.

"Now consider this: You cannot now tell exactly where you were on a definite

day, ten years ago, can you? But you existed that day, ten years ago. About

that there is no doubt. You dare not deny your existence then. The same is the

case of the life before this which you lived, though you have no recollection

how and where. The wise man is not deluded by such doubts, nor agitated by

them."

"The Atma does not die; the body does not stay. Do you think that your grief at

their possible death will make the Atma of your opponents happy? That is an

insane thought. The Atma does not derive joy or grief whatever happens or does

not happen. Let the senses keep to their places; there is no reason to fear. It

is only when they start contacts with objects, that the twin distractions, joy

and grief, get produced. When you hear some one defaming you, you feel anger

and grief; but no such agitation can take place if the words do not fall on

your ears. The object-ward movement of the senses is the cause of grief and its

twin, joy."

"I is like heat and cold; when it is the cold season, you crave for warmth and

in the hot season you crave for coolness. The sense-object contact is exactly

like this. So long as the world is there, objective contact cannot be avoided;

so long as the burden of previous births is there, the joy-grief complex cannot

be avoided. Still, one can master the art, the discipline, the secret, of

avoiding them or bearing them without bother."

"Of what use is it to wait till the waves are silenced, before you wade into the

sea for a bath? They will never cease. The wise man learns the trick of avoiding

the blow of the onrushing wave and the drag of the receding wave. But a sea bath

is essential. Some people avoid that very thing, because they are too idle to

learn the art, Arjuna. Wear the armour of fortitude, of Thithiksha, and the

blows of good and bad fortune can never harm you."

"Thithiksha means equanimity in the face of opposites, putting up boldly with

duality. It is the privilege of the strong, the treasure of the brave. The weak

will be as agitated as peacock feathers; they are ever restless, with no fixity

even for a moment. They sway like the pendulum, this side and that; once

towards joy, the next moment towards grief."

"Here, some pause has to be made on one point. Fortitude is different from

patience. Thithiksha is not the same as Sahana. Sahana is putting up with

something; tolerating it, bearing it, because you have no other go; having the

capacity to overcome it, but yet, disregarding it - that is the spiritual

discipline. Patiently putting up with the external world of duality combined

with inner equanimity and peace - that is the path to liberation. Bearing all,

with analytic discrimination - that is the type of Sahana that will yield good

result."

(Viveka is the word used for such discrimination. It means the capacity to

recognise what is called the "Aaga-maapaayina" nature of the objective world;

that is to say, the world of objects that "come and go" and are not eternal).

"Generally, man seeks only happiness and joy; under no stress will he desire

misery and grief! He treats happiness and joy as his closest well-wishers and

misery and grief as his direct enemies. This is a great mistake. When one is

happy, the risk of grief is great; fear of losing the happiness will haunt the

man. Misery prompts inquiry, discrimination, self-examination and fear of worse

things that might happen. It awakens you from sloth and conceit. Happiness makes

one forget one's obligations to oneself as a human being. It drags man into

egoism and the sins that egoism leads one to commit. Grief renders man alert

and watchful."

"So misery is a real friend; happiness spends out the stock of merit and arouses

the baser passions. So it is really an enemy. Really, misery is an eye-opener;

it promotes thought and the task of self-improvement. It also endows one with

new and valuable experiences. Happiness draws a veil over experiences that

harden a person and make him tough. So, troubles and travails are to be treated

as friends; at least, not as enemies. Only, it is best to regard both happiness

and misery as gifts of God. That is the easiest path for one's own liberation."

"Not to know this is the basic ignorance. A person so ignorant is blind; really,

happiness and misery are like the blind man who must be accompanied ever by one

who sees. When the blind man is welcomed, you have inevitably to welcome the

man with eyes, for he is the constant comrade of the blind man. So too,

happiness and misery are inseparable; you cannot choose only one. Moreover,

misery highlights the value of happiness. You feel happy, by contrast with

misery." Thus said Krishna to Arjuna, to teach him the insignificance of all

duality.

Then Arjuna resumed: "Madhava! What is the profit if your advice is followed and

if the necessary Thithiksha is cultivated. Forbearance is perhaps the only

result. There is no benefit, isn't it?" Krishna replied "O Sun of Kunthi! The

hero is the steady person who is not agitated to the slightest extent by ups

and downs caused by roaring waves on the sea of life; who does not lose the

poise which has become part of his nature; who keeps to his schedule of

spiritual discipline whatever the attraction or distraction. The wise man is

he, who is unaffected by the ever-present dualism of the objective world. He is

the person referred to as 'Dheera'."

'Dhee' means 'Buddhi;' it is the quality that makes a person a 'Purusha' or

perfect man. It is not the dress or the moustache that marks out the 'man'.

Manhood comes with the rejection of the dual. To deserve the status, he ought

to earn victory over internal foes, rather than the external. His exploit is to

conquer the twin foes of joy and grief.

"Well, you might have another doubt also. (Your heart is a nest of doubts!). You

might still question, what is the gain of victory? The gain is immortality, let

Me assure you. Things of the world cannot confer that state of bliss. All that

they can give is relative, not absolute bliss. When you rise above joy and

grief, bliss is absolute, independent, full. Arjuna! You are man among men. So,

you have no need of this paltry victory over world enemies. You deserve the

bliss of immortality." Thus saying, Krishna began telling him of the science of

Atma and Anatma, the discipline by which one can discriminate between the two.

"The Atma-jnani is not bound by the results of Karma; it is only those who

indulge in Karma without the awareness of the Atma, (their real Self,

unaffected by what they do or feel or think) that do get bound. Like the person

who has learnt swimming, the Jnani can safely wade into the sea of worldly

activity. If you do not know swimming, but yet enter the sea, the waters will

swallow you up and death is sure."

This explains why Krishna taught Arjuna the key science of Atmajnana. The Atma

does not kill, nor does it die. Those who believe that it kills or dies are

unaware of its nature. The Atma of Arjuna does not kill; the Atma of Bishma or

Drona does not die, the Atma of Krishna does not prompt! These are just phases

of the cause-consequence duality. The Atma cannot be the cause or consequence

of any Karma; it is Nir-vikara, incapable of change.

"There are six forms of modulation or modification: Originating, existing,

growing, altering, declining, getting destroyed. These are the Shad-vikaras.

Originating or Janma is when it 'was not' and later, 'is'. When it 'is' and

becomes 'is not', it is called 'maranam' or death. Janma happens to organic

beings, not inorganic things. But the Atma has no organs, it is Nir-avayava.

The Atma is not born and so how can it die? Whom does it kill? It is unborn,

eternal."

"Just as a person discards old clothes and wears new ones, the Dehi (dweller in

the body) discards one body and dons another. The body is to the individual

what the clothes are to the body. If you understand the real nature of the

Atma, then you would not give way to grief. All the weapons that you wield can

harm but the material body; they cannot harm the modification-less Atma. Know

this as truth and renounce this despondency."

"The foremost duty of a Kshatriya is to stay on the side of Dharma and destroy

Adharma. Consider your good fortune! You have on this battlefield worthy foes

like Bhishma and others. This same Bhishma fought in the past with his own

Guru, the Brahmin who taught him all the arts, the great Parasurama himself in

order, primarily, to carry out his Kshatriya duty. And now you, like a coward,

are afraid to take arms against such stalwarts. A Kshatriya finds his duty

fulfilled when he upholds the cause of Dharma in spite of all odds. That is the

path of progress."

'Kshatham' means 'Dukham', 'Sorrow', and a Kshatriya is he who saves beings from

sorrow. A chance like this to wage a war on behalf of Dharma against the forces

of Adharma comes but rarely to man. You have been blessed as a Kshatriya to

take part in this Dharmayuddha. Just imagine how much merit you will acquire by

the service to the world, which you are set to do now. The war that is waged to

establish Santhi and Soukhya (peace and plenty) in the world is referred to as

Dharmayuddha and this is just such a struggle, where justice is bound to win.

"The Kauravas have desisted from no sin, no injustice and no vice. They insulted

elders, deserted the virtuous, defamed the chaste, and wounded the self-respect

of the good. Countless are their misdeeds. Now, the moment for retribution has

come; they are about to answer for all their crimes. And just at this hour, if

you behave like a poltroon, you bring dishonour to your parents, your brothers

and indeed to the entire Kshatriya caste."

"You imagine that it is a sin to engage in war. That is a great error. The sin,

on the other hand, lies in avoiding the chance to destroy the wicked, in

prolonging the agony of the virtuous. Give up your Dharma now and you run the

risk of falling into perdition. Hold fast to it, and you are untouched by sin.

Be of fixed mind; do not give way to either one or the other among all the

dualities of the world." From the 31st sloka of this chapter, Krishna has

spoken of this Swadharmanishta, in eight slokas.

One should engage in activity, with a mind steady in the midst of fortune, good

and bad. This was what Krishna advised in the 37th sloka. The 39th is a

transitional verse for after speaking of "Esha thebhihithaa saamkhya", (I have

described to you the Saamkhya arguments), Krishna says that He will go on to

teach him the Yogabuddhi or Buddhiyoga and asks him to listen with care.

When the desire to attain the fruit of action is renounced with full

intellectual awareness, then it becomes what Krishna calls, "Buddhiyogam." The

intellect has to be purified and trained; otherwise, it is impossible to give

up attachment to the fruits of action and to continue doing things as either

duty or dedication. Such a purified intellect is named "Yogabuddhi." Cultivate

it and then, through it, liberate yourself from the bondage of Karma. Really

speaking, you, the true you, are above and beyond Karma.

You might say that you will desist from Karma rather than practise the difficult

discipline of renouncing the fruits thereof. But, that is impossible. No; Karma

is inevitable; one has to do some Karma or other. Not for a single moment can

one free oneself from Karma; "Nahi kaschith kshanamapi" says Krishna, in the

3rd chapter of the Geetha.

"Arjuna! Every Karya (deed) or Karma (activity) has a beginning and an end. But

Nishkama Karma (desireless Karma) has no such. That is the difference between

the two. When Karma is done with a view to the gain therefrom, one has to

suffer the loss, the pain, and even the punishment. But Nishkama Karma frees

you from all these."

"Desire the fruits of Karma and you get born again and again, caught up in that

desire; give up that desire, you are liberated from the flux. The practice of

this type of renunciation ends the state of bondage. The main point is to stick

to the goal. The goal is Karma, not Karmaphala. Let me tell you that the desire

for the fruit of one's acts is an indication of Rajoguna, which does not befit

you. Perhaps you will prefer to remain inactive. Well, that is an indication of

Thamoguna! It is even worse than Rajoguna." The Lord has laid down four

commands: The first one a "do" and the other three "dont's"; the first

insisting on the cultivation of strength; the rest requiring the avoidance of

weakness.

Of course, it is not Arjuna alone that got such advice; the whole of mankind

needs it. Arjuna is only the representative "man". Students of the Geetha must

learn this lesson first: that the Geetha is primarily for every seeker.

Another point to be noted is this: Geetha is addressed to man, not to birds and

beasts or to the gods or Devatha. Man performs acts prompted by the desire for

the fruits thereof; if the act does not yield fruit he will not do the act at

all. Profit, gain, reward, result - these, man seeks. But this rule does not

apply to those who take the Geetha in their hands, to drink the nectar of the

Lord's message. Not all do yearn for the nectar; and, if you do so, it is

evident that you aspire for eternal joy, eternal liberation. Then you must pay

the price, the giving up of the desire for the fruit of action, and dedicate

everything at the feet of the Lord.

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