GITA FOR CHILDREN - V

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absolutely essential. Further, I choose the parents of the body, the place of

birth and also the exact time of birth. All these factors are entirely under My

control. Thus, the time chosen is sacred, the place chosen is sacred, and the

parents of the body also are holy people.’ 37. ‘The Avatar moves about like

ordinary mortals. He will talk like an ordinary peerson, He will eat, sleep,

and dress like an ordinary peerson. But there the similarity ends! The Avatar

is without blemish in every respect, and personifies Sathya (Truth) and Dharma

(Righteousness). Ever smiling, He radiates Prema (Love) all the time. Not even

an iota of selfishness and self-interest can ever be found in Him. Ever

compassionate and ever full of Kshama or forbearance, He is always giving. Thus

His hand is always above, and never below receiving!’ 38. ‘Like humans, the

Lord in human form is also ever engaged in actions. However, whereas ordinary

humans get bound as the result of their actions, the Lord is not so bound.’

39. Arjuna asks, ‘How is that? I don’t follow.’ 40. Krishna explains: ‘The

answer is simple. Actions bind one to the world when performed with some

self-interest. As I told you, I have no self-interest, not even a trace of it.

I am beyond this world and come here just to play a specific role for a limited

time. All My actions are based on Pure Love, and that is the reason why actions

can

never bind Me.’ 41. Arjuna asks, ‘If I perform actions with Pure Love, will I

also be free from getting bound?’ 42. Krishna replies, ‘Of course! And that

is precisely the lesson I have come to teach you! Selfless action based on Pure

Love is the bottom line. You must always give and not grab. You must give and

forgive. You must give and forget. Remember, it is in giving that you really

receive. And what is that you receive? My Grace!’ 43. Seeing a frown on

Arjuna’s face, Krishna now says, ‘Mind you, I am not saying that actions

performed with expectation of specific rewards are necessarily evil. A mother

may want her son to do well so that she could be proud of him. This is a

natural

human instinct. Such a desire is not immoral or a sin. However, it is entirely

worldly, and based on body-attachment. That is what binds one to the cycle of

birth and death.’ 44. ‘Worldly desire, no matter how good it might seem,

always leads to bondage. Worldly desires inevitably chain you to the cycle of

birth and death. You may want many things and all these desires might not get

fulfilled in this birth. So destiny offers you another birth but then, in that

birth you also face much misery. And so on it goes: Birth again death again; in

between, sojourns in so many wombs! What a fool man is! If only he would

constantly think of the Lord!!’ 45. ‘So you see, the Avatar is not like you

in terms of the purpose for which actions are performed, and that is why He

remains beyond

always. There is one other point that I must mention. People often lament, “O

God why did you inflict this suffering on me?” But do these people think of Me

in their moments of success? Hardly! Instead they give all the credit to

themselves and are busy accepting congratulations. So it would seem that all I

do is to spread misery! But let that pass.’ 46. ‘Arjuna, man alone is the

master of his Destiny and not God above. God merely watches and says yes to all

that man wants. If he wants to be good, God says yes. If he wants to be bad, God

says, “Alright do so if that is what you want”. If man wants desires to be

fulfilled God says go ahead. If on the other hand man wants to be liberated,

God not only says yes but helps with great enthusiasm.’ 47. Arjuna asks, ‘You

say man alone is the

master of his Destiny. But there are certain things not explained by this

statement. Let us say there is a poor couple. They have a son who is badly

handicapped. These people are very good and highly devoted to You. They are not

doing any harm to anybody. Yet they are suffering. Why are they being punished?

Don’t tell me they are punishing themselves.’ 48. Krishna smiles and replies,

‘I am glad you asked this question because this is a common confusion that

people have. You see, people accumulate positive and negative points in every

birth. This account has to be settled. Often it is not settled in one lifespan

and there is a carry over. In the example that you gave, both the parents and

the handicapped boy are settling the account of their respective past Karma.

Men do not realise that they are the masters of their own fate; the fault lies

not in the stars but in

themselves.’ 49. ‘The solution to all this, as I have already told you, is to

totally surrender to God and let Him shape your life. But unfortunately, people

think of God only when they are in trouble and more or less forget Him when

things are going smoothly. This kind of part-time devotion will simply not

work! Beware!!’ 50. ‘In such matters, you must draw a lesson from the Wise.

They too live in this very same dual world with all its pairs of opposites. But

their outlook to these is very different.’ 51. ‘The Wise man constantly tells

himself,

“It is wrong to imagine that some things in this Universe are good and other

things are bad. If everything is God, how can anything ever be bad? Impossible!

Things only appear to be bad even though they are good in the core. It is like

in a play enacted by a drama troupe. All the members are good people really,

but in the play some may act as the good guys while others may play the role of

bad guys. God’s Cosmic Drama is no different”.’ 52. ‘The point that I am

trying to make is simply that the Wise man is above duality that most people

are in the grip of. What deludes ordinary people does not delude the Wise man.’

53. ‘Creation is a clever puzzle designed by God. It fools 99.9999% of the

people. Sometimes it even makes them believe that the transient is Eternal and

that the Eternal

does not exist! Everyone sees people dying all the time and yet, most people do

not realise that they too would have to go one day. If they did, would they not

give serious consideration to what they must do with their lives? Do you see

anyone doing that? Hardly!’ 54. ‘Incidentally, this is where Karmaphala

Tyagam (Renouncing the results of actions) that I taught you earlier comes in

handy. When you are truly engaged in Karma Yoga, the world just flits by. You

are so immersed in working for God and offering everything to Him, that you

couldn’t care less about duality and all that stuff! You will get wet only when

you go out into the rain without an umbrella. If you stay at home, how can you

get wet?’ 55. ‘In short, while the Sankhya Yogi truly rises above

delusion, the Karma Yogi bypasses it neatly by firmly attaching himself to God.

I might add that God likes the Karma Yogi very much. Do you get the hint

Arjuna?’ PART 12CHAPTER - 6 1. Continuing His Discourse on Atma Jnana or

the Knowledge of the Self, Krishna says to Arjuna, ‘I am now going to tell you

something about attitudes, and the regulation of the Mind. People use the word

Mind Control but I prefer the term Self-regulation as the word Control worries

many people, especially when the Mind is involved. Let Me start with attitudes

first.’ 2. ‘Going back to the Karma Yogi (a spiritual seeker on the path of

action), let us ask what precisely should be his mental attitude. A true Karma

Yogi will never be concerned about the outcome of what he is doing nor aspire

for the fruit of action. Totally focused on doing his duty, he would always

have the feeling that it is the Lord’s work that he is doing. On the worldly

plane, he might actually have a boss who is giving the orders. He might also

get a salary but for him, all those are purely incidental.’ 3. Arjuna asks,

‘Krishna, does that mean the Karma Yogi

ignores his boss and does what he thinks is his duty?’4. Krishna replies, ‘How

can that be? There is a King and he gives an order to his Minister. The

Minister has to obey, as long as the order is in conformity with Dharma of

course. The King plays a role in God’s Drama and so does the Minister. Yet,

while doing his duty to the State, the Minister quietly says, “Lord, I am doing

this for Your pleasure!” There is nothing to prevent the Minister from silently

offering his work to God, nor is it in conflict with his duty.’ 5. ‘To

continue, the true Karma Yogi has no craving for neither success; nor does he

become depressed when there is a failure; he accepts both success and failure

with perfect equanimity. Never a castor-oil face for him! He always says, “It

is all Lord’s

Will. In God’s play, there is never any failure, and everything happens the way

it is supposed to. I am merely His instrument.”’ 6. ‘Since there is no

hankering after success and all that, there is detachment and a spirit of

renunciation in the Karma Yogi. So you see, you do not have to wear ochre robes

to renounce! He alone is a true renunciate who has given up attachment and

desires, and not the one who wears saffron-coloured robes and is called a

Sannyasi.’7. ‘In other words, it is not the dress but the mental attitude that

is important. A Sanyasi (renunciant) who is worried where his next meal is

going to come from is no Sannyasi at all. On the other hand, I would give full

marks to a Karma Yogi if he follows the Principle of Karmaphala

Tyagam or giving up the desire for the fruit of action.’8. ‘Arjuna, you must

carefully note the spirit in which I am using the word sacrifice. You know

about Yajnas (sacrifices), don’t you? The sacred fire in the Yajna to which

offerings are made is also called the sacrificial fire. What I am trying to

drive at is that sacrifice and offering are the same thing. In the traditional

Yajna, offerings are made to the physical fire, and what is offered are

material objects. The sacrifice of a bad habit say, can similarly be looked

upon as an offering made to the fire of Knowledge or Wisdom.’ 9. ‘Let Me now

turn to

equanimity. I have already told you that the man of Wisdom can be distinguished

by his equipoise. Ever calm and gentle, he cannot be easily ruffled.’ 10.

‘The same is in fact true of a Karma Yogi also. That is because he accepts

every happening as ordained by God. Thus, his mental attitude slowly conditions

him to an attitude of equanimity in its own way. Whereas the Sankhya Yogi (a

spiritual seeker on the path of wisdom) acquires equipoise through enquiry and

by overcoming delusion, the Karma Yogi allows equipoise to grow over him in due

course by training himself to accept everything as a gift of God.’ 11. ‘At the

end of it all, a true Karma Yogi is hardly distinguishable from a

SankhyaYogi. Now do you see that it is really not necessary to split hairs and

make a big fuss about the difference? The paths may appear different but the

end result is the same. Just that some may find one path easier than the other

– that’s all.’ 12. ‘Yoga literally means union with God, and a Yogi is one

who becomes united with God. Now why is union with God so important? Because

true happiness or rather Bliss is union with God, that’s why!’ 13. ‘May be I

should digress here a bit and say something about happiness. You will agree

that no one in the world would want to be miserable, even for a moment. Even a

mad man would not have such a desire!’ TO BE CONTINUED… With Sai love from

Sai brothers – ‘’ Source and courtesy:

http://www.radiosai.org/Journals

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