GITA FOR CHILDREN - II

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flower is beautiful. But it also radiates fragrance. In the same way, Shanti is

inside; when it spreads outside like the fragrance of the flower, it becomes

Prashanti!’ 55. ‘Arjuna, what I am telling you now is not merely practical

advice related to fighting this battle ahead of you. It has deep inner

significance because it is related to fighting life’s battles.’ 56. ‘A man

who has vanquished internal enemies becomes a pure and elevated being. And when

such a person finally leaves his body, he merges once and for ever with God. No

more rebirths for him because he is merged in God, and is ever in a Blissful

state. Remember – true happiness is

total and complete union with God!’ CHAPTER 3 1. Arjuna says to Krishna,

‘Krishna, I am totally confused. On the one hand you are asking me to act, to

get up and to fight. At the same time, you are also asking me to look inside,

develop discrimination and become wise. How can I do both? If I have to act, I

can’t be spending time looking inside. On the other hand if I start looking

inside, I am sure I would get lost there! In which case, how would I be able to

act? How would I be able to fight, as You are asking me to do? Therefore, please

tell me clearly, which of these two paths is better and where

exactly do they lead?’ 2. Krishna smiles and replies, ‘Arjuna, this is what

they call a good question! Let Me, to start with, make two things very clear.

1) The two paths as you call them, are called respectively the Path of Action

or Karma Yoga and the Path of Wisdom or Sankhya Yoga. 2) Both

these lead to the same goal, namely Eternal Bliss and freedom from rebirth.’

3. ‘You are possibly wondering how that could be possible, since these two

paths seem to be so very different. That is what I shall now explain.’ 4.

‘Let Me start with the so-called Path of Action. When I ask you to follow the

Path of Action it does not mean that I am asking you to become a workaholic,

go-getter and things like that. I mean something very different.’ 5. ‘First

and foremost, a person dedicated to the Path of Action accepts the role Destiny

has carved out for him and does his best in that role. Now take your own case.

You are born a soldier, a warrior. The duty of a soldier is to fight for

Dharma. That is what you must do, and not run away talking like a Sannyasi, as

you were in fact trying to do a short while ago.’

sans-serif" size="2">6. ‘Next, you must plunge into action with perfect

calmness. You must always be cool and unperturbed; in other words, you must be

the very embodiment of equanimity.’ 7. ‘Further, the action that you perform

must be done as a sacred duty. Action becomes sacred only when duty is

performed for duty’s sake and not for personal gains and ends. You should never

calculate about success and failure or dream about the benefits that would come

to you if you were to act in a particular way.’ 8. ‘If it is destined that

you should “fail” in whatever it is that you

are trying to do, accept that outcome calmly as the Will of God. Let us say

there is a person who is very sick, and that a doctor is treating the patient.

The doctor cannot say, “This fellow is going to die anyway so why bother?” He

must do his VERY BEST and leave the rest to God. And whatever happens, he

should calmly accept that as the Will of God. With God’s Grace, the patient may

even pull through. For your information, this has happened any number of times.’

9. ‘By the way Arjuna, don’t ever get the idea that God causes failure.

Things may not exactly happen the way you want things to happen but that does

not mean that the effort is a failure. You see God always knows what is best,

and if He has postponed what you regard as “success”, it is with good reason.

In the meanwhile, do not jump to the conclusion that there has

been a failure.’ 10. ‘Arjuna, two important points must be noted concerning

action. The first is that no one can be perfectly still and stay away from

action. You talked of the Wise as if they did not engage in action. This is not

correct. Don’t the Wise eat, walk, bathe, etc.? Are these not actions?’ 11.

‘The second point is that there is action everywhere in the Universe. In fact a

static Universe where nothing ever happens is impossible! Up there in the

heavens the Sun shines, the planets move about and so on. All this is

Divinely-ordained action.’ 12. ‘If you examine carefully, there are

generally two aspects to action, that of receiving and that of giving. In fact,

in all cases except that of man, the giving is much more than the receiving.

Just consider the example of the tree and examine how much it receives and how

much it gives. This one example ought to convince you of the truth of My

statement. The tree is really a fine example because in the end it gives its

entire self up.’ 13. ‘Arjuna, the key principle on which the Universe

functions is sacrifice. That one word says it all. That is why at the time of

Creation God told man, “You can prosper only if you sacrifice”.’ 14. ‘People

imagine that sacrifice means giving up something valuable or givingaway

something precious, something that you would very much like to keep for

yourself. This is a very limited interpretation of the word sacrifice. I use

that word in a larger sense. I would in fact prefer to use the word offering in

place of the word sacrifice.’ 14. ‘People imagine that sacrifice means giving

up something valuable or giving away something precious, something that you

would very much like to keep for yourself. This is a very limited

interpretation of the word sacrifice. I

use that word in a larger sense. I would in fact prefer to use the word offering

in place of the word sacrifice.’ 15. ‘Here I should caution you about what

happens when the key principle is misunderstood and followed in a mistaken

fashion. For example, many people think they should give charity so that they

can go to heaven. This is wrong. When charity is given this way, the giver of

charity starts feeling he is superior to the one receiving. Giving should not

at all be done that way. One must give as a loving offering to a brother, who

also is a child of God. In other words, the spirit must be one of sharing and

caring, and not of condescension, and without any expectations of any kind from

anybody.’ 16. ‘The people who give charity

and food to beggars with the idea of booking a seat in heaven are really trying

to make a business deal! God is so kind that He may even reserve a seat in

heaven for such people. But Arjuna, God should not be trivialised like this by

asking Him for trinkets! You may be a businessman but God is not. Remember

that!’ 17. ‘Well, how then should one relate to God? That is your unstated

question, is it not? The answer is simple. Look upon God as your Father,

Mother, Guru, and even Friend. Are you surprised? You should not be because God

is the only true Friend you can have. All others would make themselves scarce

when you need assistance and help most. God is not like that. On the contrary,

it is in those dire moments that He would be closest to you. Also, do whatever

you are doing for God’s pleasure.’

Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">18. ‘For example, right now I am asking you to

fight. When you start fighting say, “God, I offer this duty I am doing as a

soldier to You. Please accept it as my loving offering to You! I want nothing

in return but Your Grace and Love”.’ 19. ‘Everyone can make an offering to God

in this manner, including a cobbler. Are you wondering how the cobbler ought to

pray? Simple. He should just say, “Lord, in Your Cosmic Drama You have given me

this particular role. My prayer to You is that a) I do my job to the best of my

ability, and b) my slippers bring comfort and satisfaction to the buyer, who is

none other than You in disguise. When my customer is satisfied, it means that

You are satisfied!”’ 20. ‘So you see how perfection combined with selflessness

can readily sanctify action. Every act without exception, including the

smallest, can be sanctified in this manner.’ 21. ‘Take food. You are able to

eat on account of God’s Grace and not because of your salary. But for God’s

Grace, you would be jobless and hungry. Having received food as Divine Grace,

how do you express your gratitude to God? By sharing your food with someone

else. Give some food first to a starving soul, see him happy, and then eat.

That would fill you also with happiness.’ 22. ‘Arjuna, it is a sin to eat

without first sharing your food with some other person. Suppose no one is

available; no problem. Share it with some birds or

even ants. In any case, you can always offer the food first to God. In fact this

is a must I would say.’23. ‘When you so offer, say a simple prayer, “O God, who

is in me and taking care of me all the time in a thousand different ways that I

am not even aware of, I offer this food to You, my Indweller. Please accept.”’

24. ‘No Arjuna, this is not a gimmick. It is an attitude of Mind that reflects

the virtues of the Heart. See God everywhere and try to please Him with all the

actions that you perform. God does not expect anything special from you. He

would be extremely happy if you transform your duty into devotion and work into

worship by following My simple formula.’25. Arjuna says, ‘Krishna, all this is

fine, but what has it got to do with the Path of

Action and the Path of Wisdom that You were telling me about?’ 26. Krishna

replies, ‘Arjuna, that precisely is what I am coming to now. When your Mind is

full of thoughts of God and your Heart is immersed in God, you would

automatically become Wise! Yad Bhavam, Tat Bhavati. As you feel, so you become.

Think of God who is the Embodiment of Knowledge all the time, and you

automatically become Wise yourself – that’s all! Thus, for the man on the Path

of Action, the three steps are: Work- Worship- Wisdom.’ 27. ‘Let Me now tell

you something about the man who is following the Path of Wisdom. Such a man is

inward-looking, that is to say, for him the world is essentially

inside.’ 28. ‘What does this man find inside? He sees God seated in his Heart.

He sees the Heart as the symbol of Perfection and Absolute Purity. He sees God

seething with Love. Becoming absorbed in that Love, he gets charged with it.’

29. ‘So charged is he with Love, that when he starts looking out into the world,

he sees only Love everywhere. To him, nothing outside is bad, though ordinary

mortals might see some things as good and others as bad. This man is above all

such duality.’ 30. ‘The inward-looking man is

one of Wisdom. He might seem a strange person to ordinary people, but he is

neither strange nor mad. He is his True Self and in his Natural State, the

State of Bliss. If at all he is mad, he is mad about God. But then Arjuna, tell

Me who in this world is not mad? Some are mad about money, some about power,

some about position and so on. Compared to all these types of madness, is not

being mad about God much better?’ 31. ‘The Wise are always in a State of

Bliss. At times, they might appear to be in a trance. At times, they would be

happily singing to themselves or rather the God within, and at times they would

be just dancing with joy! Obviously such people are very rare, about one in a

billion or so, but believe Me, they do exist.’

sans-serif" size="2">32. Arjuna says, ‘Krishna, the way You describe, these Wise

men as You call them, appear to live in their own world and have nothing

whatsoever to do with the world we ordinary mortals live in. Is that true?’

33. Krishna smiles and replies, ‘Well Arjuna, really speaking, the Wise do not

have duties to perform in the sense you have. You have to perform duty in order

to attain fulfilment. This they achieve in an entirely different way. Yet, in

their own way, the Wise too act and serve in this world.’ 34. ‘You want to

know how? Let Me explain. By their very nature, the Wise “radiate” Peace. They

have a

captivating aura of Supreme Calm about them. They are ever smiling. Troubled

souls therefore go to such people to have their Darshan, and when they do so,

they feel at peace themselves, at least for a while. Is not applying the balm

of Shanti a service? How many people are there in this troubled world who can

render such service? Shining with the Effulgence of Love, speaking softly,

gently and soothingly, is also service, in fact extremely valuable service.

Thus, the Wise act as Lighthouses in a stormy world. ’ 35. ‘Arjuna, just

look at Me. I am the Lord and Master of the Three Worlds. Verily, I have no

duties to perform. And yet, donning a human

form, I am engaged in service to humanity all the time. Don’t you see? Right

now, I am driving your chariot? Is this really My job?’ 36. ‘Why do I serve

when I really don’t have to? To set an example Arjuna, to set an example. My

Life is My Message! And My policy is to Love All and Serve All!! Got it?’ 37.

‘Supposing I did not do what I am doing. Do you know what would happen? People

would start saying, “Look, God in human Form is not bothered about action. May

be that is what God wants of us too!” Imagine what would happen to the world if

people start abandoning their duties. It is to prevent this disaster that I

perform duties, though in reality I have none

to perform.’ 38. ‘Inaction is bad and laziness is rust and dust. It is to

teach that lesson that I always keep Myself busy doing something or the other,

of course always for the benefit of others. I never do anything that would

bring advantage to Me personally. Selfless Love is My Guiding Principle, every

second of My life.’ 39. ‘So, Arjuna, I hope after all this lengthy

explanation, you have understood that the Paths of Action and of Wisdom are not

two disjointed options; just that they represent two different starting points

for reaching the same goal. Some start from Action and then progress to Wisdom

while others attain Wisdom and then go into Action, that is all.

Either way, the circle is complete.’ 40. ‘You will notice of course that many

things are common to the ideal followers of the two Paths; they both are

totally free from ego. The man following the Path of Action sees God as

different from himself, at least to start with. He lives entirely for God and

sacrifices his ego so that he may win the Love of God. The man on the Path of

Wisdom identifies himself totally with God and since ego has no place in God,

he automatically becomes devoid of ego. So both types of devotees of the Lord

get rid of ego, each in his own style. Once ego is got rid of, one becomes one

with God. And that, if you remember is the goal to be attained.’ 41. ‘So you

see the important thing is to get rid of ego, and as I just told you, it can be

done by two different methods. Hence both Paths lead to the same goal. However,

if you ask Me which of these two paths is better suited to you, I would

unhesitatingly pick the Path of Action or Karma Yoga as it is called. In fact,

Karma Yoga is the preferred choice for 99.99999….% of humanity!’ 42. Arjuna

silently digests all this and then slowly asks, ‘Krishna, what You say is very

clear no doubt but there is one thing I still do not understand. Why is it that

people are driven to sin even though they know it is wrong? What is amazing is

that sometimes people seem to commit sin even against their will! It seems

there is some stronger force. What is that?’ 43. Krishna replies, ‘The short

answer to your question is that the force you are talking about is the force

exerted by the internal enemies. Take, for example, a man addicted to drinking.

To start with he did not know the taste of alcohol. One fine day, the enemy

called desire tempted this man saying, “Listen, you don’t know what you are

missing! Give this a try!!” The man falls for this evil advice and soon finds

that he is hooked. Later he realises that his health is being ruined and that

death would soon catch up with him but still he is not able to give up

drinking. These internal enemies are very powerful and that is why they should

not be given even a toehold in the first place.’ 44. ‘Arjuna, desire is

man’s

mortal enemy. It is like a raging fire, a huge unstoppable conflagration. Desire

sneaks in by devious means and later hides in the senses and the Mind. Once it

gets in, it can smother even Wisdom; that is how even very Wise men have been

dragged to ruin. You must therefore slay this evil dragon called desire, well

before it gets hold of you!’ 45. ‘You might think that what I am asking you

to do is difficult but do not worry. Just trust in Me and throw desire into the

Fire of Knowledge for it to be totally destroyed. People perform all sorts of

Yajna at great expense; no need for that. Just burn away your bad qualities,

starting with desire – that is more than enough. Do it as an act of Love for

Me; if you do, then be assured that I shall help you, all the way to success.

Of this you can be sure!’ TO BE CONTINUED… With Sai love from Sai brothers –

‘’ Source and courtesy: http://www.radiosai.org/Journals

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