[SBOI]Sai Baba Gita - Part 1

[Guest guest]

Om Sri Sai Ram

 

  SAI BABA GITA – Part I

 

  The Way to Self-Realization and Liberation in this

Age

  Compiled and edited by Al Drucker

Published by Atma Press

 

  Foreword

  I would like to give you, dear reader, some

background on how this

book came about. In August and September of 1984,

there were

extensive riots in South India. There were shootings

not far from Sai

Baba's ashram and the ashram gates were locked. Armed

soldiers were

patrolling outside and escorting the college students

into the ashram

for the evening meetings. For 34 days during the

height of the

tension, Sai Baba spoke in daily discourses to the

students on the

Gita. He spoke in Telugu, his native language. These

talks form the

chapters of this book.

  I was living in Baba's ashram at the time and

teaching in his

university. With Baba's permission, I used these

powerful Gita

teachings over the years as the basis for my scheduled

talks to

visitors who came to the ashram from all over the

world. It has been

my good fortune to work with this material now for

almost 9 years.

Every moment spent on it has brought new light and

depth of

understanding, and, as has happened to many others,

these teachings

have unalterably transformed my life.

  Five years ago, I had the chance to publish this

Gita in India,

from the edited translations of Baba's talks. 12,000

copies in

English were printed and distributed, and translations

were published

in a number of European and Asian languages. The

original manuscript

was presented to Sai Baba on the stage of the

auditorium during the

Christmas function in 1987, and he graciously blessed

it and signed

the title page. That work contained extensive Sanskrit

phrases and

references to traditional Indian themes, which were

familiar to

Indian devotees.

  In the intervening years, the Indian English edition

has gone out

of print. With the intention of making these teachings

widely

available without need for the reader to have an

extensive background

in Sanskrit or Indian philosophy or prior knowledge of

the characters

and stories that fill Baba's talks, this book was

prepared in the

present edition. Here, the majority of Sanskrit terms

have been

deleted and incorporated in their English equivalents

into the body

of the text. Also, the chapters have been freely

edited to clarify

any difficult passages or obscure references and to

convert the

spoken words into easily readable text. Every chapter

has been

arranged to stand on its own, with the effect that you

can turn to

any chapter whose subject matter particularly

interests you, without

first having to study all the previous chapters in the

book.

  In editing the text my primary focus was on clarity

in conveying

Baba's teachings to the Western reader, rather than on

literal

translation. I acknowledge the grave responsibility of

editing the

avatar's words and urge scholars to study the tapes of

Baba's Gita

discourses in Telugu.

  Al Drucker,

Crestone, Colorado, October 1993

  Messages

  Suppose you are asked: "Who created all this

multiplicity in the

world; who is responsible for all this variety?" What

will you

answer?... The correct response is, "There is no

multiplicity at

all!"... The one divine self remains the one self

forever. You

mistake it as many. The fault is in you. Correct your

vision. Remove

your delusion. The divinity did not change into the

world just as the

rope did not change into a snake. In the dark you

mistook the rope to

be a snake but it remains a rope. So also, the divine

self remains

the divine self though your ignorance of this fact

makes you see it

as world... The world of diversity stands on one leg

called delusion.

Cut down that leg and the world falls... I often tell

you not to

identify even me with this particular body. You do not

understand.

You call me by only one name and believe I have only

one form, but

there is no name I do not bear and there is no form

which is not mine.

  After long searches here and there in temples and in

churches, at

last you come back completing the circle from where

you started, and

find that he for whom you have been seeking all over

the world, for

whom you have been weeping and praying in churches and

temples, on

whom you were looking as the mystery of all mysteries,

is the nearest

of the near... your very self... the reality of your

life, body and

soul. Assert it! Manifest it!

  You as body, mind or soul are a dream. But what you

really are is

pure existence, knowledge, bliss. You are the God of

this universe.

You are creating this whole universe and drawing it

in. To gain the

Infinite, the miserable little prison individuality

must go....

Follow the heart. A pure heart seeks beyond the

intellect. It gets

inspired.... Within you is the real happiness. Within

you is the

mighty ocean of nectar divine. Seek it within you.

Feel it. Feel it.

It is here, the self. It is not the body, the mind,

the intellect.

All these are simply manifestations. Above all these

you are. You

appear as the smiling flower, as the twinkling stars.

What is there

in the world which can make you desire anything?

  - From sayings and writings of Sai Baba

  Sai Baba

  For the countless millions of devotees who have come

into his fold,

Sai Baba is the avatar of this age. He is revered as

the incarnation

of the full power of divinity. Such an auspicious

advent has not

occurred since ancient days when the divinity came

into human form

5000 years ago, in another major age of mankind. Then

he came as

Krishna, to enact the role of avatar of that

particular age. Now, the

divinity has come again in the role of world teacher,

to guide and

uplift mankind at this present critical time in human

history.

  Just as sweetness cannot be understood through words

alone, but

must be experienced directly through the taste, so

also the Sai

phenomenon cannot be understood by merely reading

about him or

studying his words or even experiencing him

first-hand. His truth can

be known only by fully living his teachings and

practicing them in

every thought, word and action of daily life. By

transforming our

lives in this way, we discover our own truth. This is

the rarest of

all jewels that this avatar has come to bestow on us.

It is the

deeper message of the mission for which he has

incarnated, namely,

that the divinity appears among us in order to remind

us of our

divinity. "I know who I am," he says. "I have come to

help you to

realize who you are." In essence, we are no less than

he. We are God

incarnate. That is the principal teaching of his Gita.

He has come as

the guide to help us realize our truth and return

mankind to its

divine source.

  The three Incarnations of Sai

  Like Allah of the Muslims, or Jahweh of the Jews, or

Divine Father

of the Christians, or the Buddha Nature of the

Buddhists, or Ahura

Mazda of the Parses, or the Supreme Self of the

Vedantins, or the

Great Spirit of the native Americans, Sai Baba is a

name for the

omnipresent, supreme reality, which in most religions

is known as

God. The one divinity takes on countless names and

manifests itself

in countless forms. It has chosen a 250 year period

beginning in the

early 19th century to manifest successively in three

human forms as

avatar for this kali age, to restore righteousness to

floundering

humanity. All three of these incarnations are called

Sai Baba, which

means divine mother-father.

  The present Sai Baba, born in 1926, is the second in

a succession

of three incarnations of the Sai avatar. He is known

as Sathya Sai

Baba. The first incarnation was Shirdi Sai Baba, who

left his mortal

body eight years earlier in 1918. Shirdi Sai Baba

lived his life

exemplifying the unity of God and the brotherhood of

man, by

ministering to both the Hindu and Muslim communities

of central

India, each of which claimed him as their own. For

many years, he

would spend alternate days living in a Hindu temple

and in a Muslim

mosque.

  The Sai avatar will remain in the present Sathya Sai

form until his

mid 90's, well into the 21st century. Then, shortly

after leaving his

physical body, he will be born again in the south of

India, appearing

as the third and final incarnation. At that time he

will be known as

Prema Sai Baba and will complete the mission of the

Sai avatar to end

this kali age and usher in the golden age for mankind.

  Sai Baba's Ashram - Prashanthi Nilayam

  Sathya Sai Baba took birth in the little

out-of-the-way hamlet of

Puttaparthi in the south of India, near Bangalore.

Now, a modern

township has sprung up there, called Prashanthi

Nilayam, the abode of

ultimate peace, which is his main ashram. It provides

accommodations

for thousands of pilgrims from all over India and from

all parts of

the globe, who come to experience Sai Baba's daily

public contacts

with the devotees and private interviews for those who

are fortunate

to be chosen.

  The ashram houses a comprehensive educational

complex where

students come from all parts of India and abroad to

live and study

together. Small children can come into the residential

program

starting at the age of five in the primary school,

then go on to the

high school, college and university levels, and

finally on to the

postgraduate and doctoral levels, to complete their

education twenty

years later. The Sai educational system, with campuses

in various

states of India, is wholly non-denominational and

completely cost-

free. All the educational costs for thousands of

students are borne

directly by the Sathya Sai Baba Trust.

  Also at Prashanthi Nilayam is the central

headquarters for the

worldwide network of Sai service organizations,

engaged in a wide

range of community service projects and in bringing

education in

human values into government and private school

systems throughout

the world. Recently, the largest specialty hospital in

Asia was

inaugurated at the ashram. Here patients, no matter

how poor, can

come from all over the globe for open heart surgery.

They stay at the

hospital with no charge for doctors, medicine,

hospital services,

food or room.

  Sai Baba, the Human Being and the God-Man

  The hub of all this activity is Sai Baba, who from

his earliest

days has attracted large numbers of people to him

through his unique

personal presence. He can only be described as the

personification of

pure, selfless love, the embodiment of perfect peace

and bliss, the

essence of all goodness. He manifests every noble

human quality that

mankind admires and he incorporates every divine

quality that is

characteristic of the avatar. He has the full power of

nature in his

hand. He has all knowledge at his command. He knows

the past, present

and future of everyone who comes to him. He manifests

himself in many

parts of the world for the sake of his devotees. These

characteristics, namely omnipotence, omniscience and

omnipresence,

are the mark of a full incarnation of the divinity.

  In his teachings he befriends all faiths and

emphasizes the unity

of all religions in the oneness of divinity. In his

personal manner,

Sai Baba displays a majestic grace, and at the same

time, an

exquisite joyfulness. In the midst of a splendorous

temple and

ashram, he lives in a small, simple room, and

maintains an austere

life style, completely committing his time from early

morning to late

at night to ministering to the needs of those who come

to him.

  Not being limited to the physical plane, Sai Baba

works in all

dimensions, gross and subtle, appearing through

visions and dreams

and inner experiences, as well as in his physical

form. As the divine

teacher guiding the spiritual unfoldment of his

devotees, he inspires

from within and directs from without. He illuminates

the heart and

transforms the mind and reveals the greatest of all

treasures, the

immortal Atma, the universal self abiding in every

heart.

  The Sai Advent

  These two and a half centuries encompassing the Sai

advent are a

unique time of great spiritual significance in the

history of the

world. During this period, many saints and sages are

also appearing

on the earth in order to advance the divine mission of

revitalizing

spiritual values and reversing the present downward

trend of moral

degeneration which is engulfing the world. In the

millenia to come,

generations will look back with great awe at those of

us who lived

during this sacred time, much as we might look back at

those

fortunate ones in other ages, who were the

contemporaries of Rama or

Krishna, or of Moses, Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed or

Zoroaster, and who

had the unique chance to experience their sacred

presence directly.

  Very rarely in the long span of human existence, has

the divinity

taken a human form on earth and allowed itself to be

widely

recognized by many. And even more rarely has the

divinity come in all

its fullness and glory as avatar of the age, as is

true today in the

form of Sai Baba. Now, the full power of God can be

directly

approached and experienced by all, and his teachings,

which have the

authority of the source of all wisdom, can be

understood by everyone,

for he speaks to us in the language and the idiom of

our present time.

  Introduction to the Gita

  Gita means song. But the Gita is no ordinary song.

It is the divine

song of emancipation. It is given by God to free us of

the illusions

that have kept us bound. The Gita celebrates our

highest truth, the

Atma.

  Atma means self. But Atma also means God. Atma is

our god-self, our

true self. And since God is always one, Atma is the

one true self of

everyone and everything. Illusion makes it appear as

the many. Our

destiny is to dispel the clouds of illusion so that

our truth is

revealed and the atma is realized. That is

self-knowledge.

  When self-knowledge comes, the illusion of separate

beings and

separate objects goes, and is replaced by unity

consciousness. Self-

knowledge is the only knowledge that has truly eternal

and lasting

value, for it enables us to transcend all limitations

of time and

space, and be immersed in the bliss of the Atma.

  In every major age, God comes as avatar and teaches

the Gita to

initiate us into self-knowledge and dispel the veils

which hide our

divine nature. 5000 years ago, God came as Krishna, to

render this

song of truth at a time of great moral decline. At

that time, he gave

the Gita in order to rescue Arjuna, and through him

all of mankind,

from the fog of illusion and attachment. In this age,

he has come

again as Sai Baba, to give this sacred teaching at

another time of

great turmoil and deteriorating values. The malady he

is treating is

the same, and the remedy he prescribes is also the

same, stemming

from the same ancient wisdom. But, being the very

source of eternal

wisdom, he knows how to transmit it in a way which

makes it come

alive today and be meaningful in this present age.

  In his Gita teachings, Baba shows us how to

transcend the false

perception of our senses and mind, which constantly

support the

illusion of separate existence. Step by step, he

directs us onto the

inner path to discover who we truly are. When all

illusion is

stripped away, we realize that we are not these bodies

and

personalities, we are not separate beings

individualized into name

and form. The truth is, and he emphasizes it over and

over again,

that we are not different from God. Our unchanging

reality, which was

the same before we took on the limitations of these

bodies, and which

is the same after we let go of these bodies, is the

one divine self,

the atma. Inexplicably, atma has become cloaked with

the changing

names and forms which make up the covering veil of

Maya, or illusion.

But, under the layers of obscuration, hidden from

view, atma shines

in everyone as the unvarying radiance of divine light.

  To realize this requires a purification of

consciousness, until

only pure awareness, unbefogged by illusory

mind-stuff, remains. Baba

tells us that when we give up our outer vision and our

fascination

for the world and, instead, turn our mind inwards to

gain the

integral vision, we become steeped in unity

consciousness. When we

give up body-consciousness we gain God consciousness.

When we expand

beyond our limited human awareness into the fullness

of our

potential, we become who we truly are. We transcend

the illusion of

separation of God, man and world and merge into the

one divine

principle. That is the essential teaching of the Gita.

  The Gita is the very heart of the ancient wisdom

making up the

perennial philosophy of the East. It is the basis of

all

spirituality. We are told that it had a profound

influence on Jesus,

as well as on the Buddha, not to speak of the

countless spiritual

lights who have graced this planet in the millenia

since the Gita was

given by Krishna on the battlefield.

  The Gita has something for everyone at every level

of the spiritual

path. Baba talks to each of us at the level at which

we are ready,

pointing us from wherever we are, to our final

destination. If we

incorporate this Gita into our daily lives, we will

never need to

read another book nor study another teaching. By

following the

directions given here, we will be led home to our own

unchanging

truth. First, however, there are a number of stages we

must go

through. They are best spoken of in terms of the

yogas. The Sanskrit

word yoga speaks of union, referring to union with

God.

  There are three principal yogas which Baba takes up

here. They are

karma yoga, the path of selfless service; Bhakti yoga,

the path of

devotion wherein we see the divinity in everything we

see; and jnana

yoga, the path of wisdom, the culmination of the

spiritual journey,

wherein we dwell constantly on our highest truth.

These yogas are the

soap which purifies us and strips away the layers of

unreality that

have covered the atma. For too long, illusion and

unreality have

posed, bizarrely, but totally convincingly, as the

only true reality

and kept the bona fide reality, the atma, hidden.

These yogas help

return us to unity consciousness.

  A question may arise as to why, when the verses of

Krishna's

Bhagavad Gita are freely available, Baba has

elaborated this new

version of the Gita. Baba explains that this present

age is different

from Krishna's time and different from Rama's time, as

well. In the

age of Rama, the forces of darkness were embodied as

demonic hordes,

external enemies that disturbed the inner peace and

tranquility of

the people. Rama, God incarnated as avatar, personally

took up arms

and went into the forest to destroy this evil. Tens of

thousands of

years later, in the age of Krishna, the forces of evil

were not

outside in the forest, but right at home in the same

family. Now the

avatar did not take up arms directly. Instead, he

drove the chariot

and galvanized Arjuna to fight the battle and win the

victory.

  In truth, the divinity had already decided the

outcome. To make it

clear to Arjuna that he was merely an actor in this

drama, Krishna

gave Arjuna a vision of the cosmic form of God.

Suddenly, Arjuna

could see all of time, past, present and future. He

saw all the

combatants on both sides, engulfed in their

inescapable destiny,

following the play orchestrated by the Lord. Though he

was engaged in

fighting all the battles, Arjuna saw that he was

merely the

instrument carrying out the will of the Lord, and that

the ultimate

conclusion of the war, the triumph of righteousness

over evil, had

been decided even before the first battle commenced.

  In those days people lived much longer than they do

now. Baba

mentioned that at the time of the Mahabharata war,

Krishna and Arjuna

were both in their eighties. Krishna and Arjuna had

known each other

for over 70 years. They were the closest of friends,

spent most of

their time together, and were related as

brothers-in-law. In all this

time spent together, the Gita never came up. For

years, Arjuna, along

with the other Pandava brothers, had nobly borne every

insult and

indignity perpetrated by their wicked cousins. But,

the forces of

evil were unrelenting. The conflict was destined to

culminate in war.

Preparations for the battle commenced. Now, on the eve

of the war,

when Arjuna saw his beloved grandfather and his

revered teacher ready

to fight on the opposing side, and all his other close

relations

arrayed for battle, he threw down his bow in

despondency.

  In speaking of this, Baba said that Arjuna had faced

many worldly

dilemmas in his life and knew how to deal with them.

But, at that

point, Arjuna was facing a spiritual dilemma. He was

overwhelmed with

a feeling of helplessness that stemmed from the

onslaught of his

inner enemies, attachment, infatuation, deluded

vision, and the rest,

which had made him forget his own truth and his

commitment to

preserve righteousness at all cost. Now, in

desperation, he turned to

Krishna, knowing that Krishna alone could rescue him

from this

quagmire. He declared, "Lord, command me. I will do as

you say." At

that moment, their relationship changed from chums and

co-equals to

master and disciple. And it was at this point, Baba

tells us, that

Krishna chose to teach Arjuna the Gita. Surrender of

the individual

will to the divine will was the key to proper

preparation in

receiving this age-old wisdom.

  Baba said that the sage Vyasa tuned in on their

dialogue with his

yogic powers of subtle hearing. Vyasa elaborated

Krishna's teachings

into 700 verses in the Sanskrit poetic form, which

have been

preserved through time as the Bhagavad Gita. But, Baba

said that in

the 20 minutes or so, when Krishna spoke to Arjuna on

the

battlefield, he did not actually expound all these

verses or render

them in poetic meter. Krishna's goal was very

specific.

  Krishna who was the divinity incarnate was always

unremittingly

happy. Arjuna, like the rest of humanity, experienced

periods of joy

and sorrow. Here, on the eve of the battle, Arjuna was

deeply

depressed, but earlier that day, Arjuna had been

highly elated, eager

to fight. Krishna knew that all of these changes of

mood were caused

by illusion. Arjuna was out of touch with his true

nature, the atma,

which is synonymous with eternal delight. Krishna

resolved to dispel

Arjuna's confusion and bolster his courage by teaching

him the

knowledge of the atma, so that Arjuna would discover

his own divine

truth and be forever immersed in unchanging inner joy.

  In these chapters, Baba gives us an insight into the

main points of

Lord Krishna's Gita. Since this present book is the

Gita for this

present age, Baba gives many additional directions for

our spiritual

advancement, which are particularly applicable to

these troubled

times and our needs. His goal is the same as

Krishna's, namely to

establish us in Ananda, the eternal delight which is

our true nature.

  This age is different in many ways from Krishna's

age. In this age,

the forces of good and evil are not only battling in

the same family,

but they are battling inside of every being. Baba

tells us that if

the Lord were to come today, sword in hand, to stamp

out all traces

of evil, no one alive would escape or survive. He

comes, instead, as

the inner director. Following his guidance, we must

fight our own

inner battles, conquer our own inner enemies, and gain

the ultimate

victory of salvation and awakening.

  This kali age, in which we are now living, wherein

gross

materialism and lawlessness have run rampant and

spiritual values

have declined, is, in many ways the worst of all ages.

But, from the

spiritual point of view, this age is the best of all

ages for the

transformation of the individual. In this age we can

most readily

throw off the bonds of illusion and realize the atma.

But, it

requires swimming up-stream against the powerful

current and rapids

of worldly life, which try to sweep us into the abyss

and keep us

locked onto the endless cycle of birth and death. Now,

the avatar of

this age, through his teachings, shows us how to

navigate these

rapids. He works internally as the indweller in every

being,

directing us how to confront our own inner enemies and

win this war

of good and evil inside.

  In ages past, Baba points out, the spiritual path

was primarily

devoted to rituals and religious practices, such as

meditation,

penances, chanting of mantras, prayers and other

worshipful

activities. These practices are still important, but

they are not

enough. Baba often says, "Hands that work in the

service of society

are much holier than lips that pray." He wants us to

do karma yoga

and engage in selfless service to mankind. All our

work must be pure

and done to the full extent of our capacity for

excellence. At the

same time, we must have no attachment to the fruits of

our labors,

but instead, offer up all our actions and their

results to God.

  When we see the divinity everywhere, installed as

the indweller in

every being, and we serve that omni-present divinity

in all we do,

then karma yoga automatically becomes bhakti yoga. Our

work becomes

worship. But in this there is still some separation

between ourselves

and God; there is still some duality. Baba is not

satisfied with our

spiritual progress until we become totally immersed in

non-duality

and reach our highest truth, the realization of the

immortal self.

That is the final stage.

  Baba tells a little story of an old woman who was

sewing in her

home at night. She was working on her tapestry when

she lost her

needle. The light being very dim in her house, she

went out to the

street lamp where the light was bright, to look for

her needle. Baba

ends the story there. Whenever he tells this story he

always seems a

little amused by the silliness of it.

  We are like that old woman. We have also lost our

needle while

working on the tapestry of our many lives. Our lost

needle is the

knowledge of our truth, without which we cannot finish

our work.

After groping through countless lives caught up in

illusion, we now

know that there is something vital to our existence

that we have

lost. We go to great teachers and to ashrams where the

spiritual

light is intense, hoping to find there what we have

lost.

  We get great solace being in the light and we gain

deeper

understanding of what we are looking for, but the

final discovery of

what we have lost can only happen when we look inside

our own heart

of hearts. There within, deeper than the body and the

mind, deeper

than our sense of I-ness which stands at the core of

our individual

self, beyond all sheaths, subtle and causal, which

cover our truth,

we find the brightest light of all, the light of atma.

When the atma,

our true self is realized, the tapestry of our long

journey in the

world which we have been working on for so many eons

and so many

lives, is finally complete.

  Baba assures us that, just as was true in the vision

given to

Arjuna showing the final outcome of the war, the

outcome of our long

trek and our inner war has also already been

determined by the divine

will. We are destined to return home. Nevertheless, we

must still

tread the path and fight the battles and win final

victory over our

inner enemies. We initiate this process by making

friends with the

divinity in our hearts, keeping it as our steady

companion and

allowing it to guide our inner journey.

  As we proceed on our path the clouds of illusion

thin out and we

become aware of a great mystery. We realize that the

spiritual

journey we thought we were on is itself an illusion.

We are not

individuals on the spiritual path following the

direction of the

divine inner guru. In truth, we are the totality. We

are the divinity

itself. We are and always have been the atma. Atma is

neither born

nor reborn; nor does it ever die. As atma we have not

come from

somewhere nor are we going somewhere. We have never

changed. Only the

illusion of individuality and separateness has

changed. Ultimately

that illusion disappears and we discover the glorious

truth that we

have always been one with God. Baba tells us, "God if

you think, God

you are. Dust if you think, dust you are. Think God.

Be God. You are

God. Realize it."

  Some years ago in a public discourse, Baba directed

us to repeat

several times daily, "I am God, I am God, I am no

different from God.

I am the infinite supreme. I am the one reality." If

we allow this

declaration of truth to suffuse our lives and fill us

with the

consummate love that is God, these powerful words will

gradually

become our direct inner experience. More and more we

will identify

ourselves with the divinity, our real self, and less

and less with

these ephemeral personalities which are but shadow

selves. Thus we

realize who we are, the immortal self, the one

divinity, which is

love itself.

  That is the inspiring message of this Gita.

  The Essence of the Gita

  For Western readers who may not be familiar with it,

here follows a

summary of the traditional Bhagavad Gita, as set down

by the sage

Vyasa. That Gita was given by Krishna to Arjuna, just

before a great

war involving huge armies with millions of combatants,

coming from

kingdoms scattered all over the Indian subcontinent.

In massive

encounters that raged daily for 18 days, the forces of

good were

pitted against the forces of evil. This war proved to

be one of the

bloodiest of all time. When it was over, only a

handful of men

survived.

  In this war, Krishna, who was God incarnate, took

the humble role

of a charioteer, to guide Arjuna and the Pandava

brothers to victory.

But, on the eve of the great war, it looked like the

battle was lost

before it even started. Arjuna, the foremost warrior

on the side of

good, had become overwhelmed with doubts; he decided

to throw down

his bow and not fight. This situation came about after

Krishna had

driven Arjuna's chariot onto the battlefield between

the two armies.

There Arjuna saw his beloved grandfather, his teacher

and his kinsmen

on the opposite side, getting ready to fight and die

for their cause.

They had allied themselves with the forces of

unrighteouseousness.

  Filled with a deep despondency, Arjuna said, "O

Krishna! I cannot

fight! I feel overcome by a sense of helplessness!

What good is

winning this war when it will lead to the destruction

of all these

kinsmen, teachers and heroes. I do not know where my

duty lies! I beg

you to tell me what is right for me! I surrender

myself fully to you!

I am your disciple! Please teach me!" Then the blessed

Lord gave him

the great wisdom teachings of the Gita.

  Krishna started the Gita teachings with an

admonishment, "Arjuna!

Shake off this faint heartedness. It is not worthy of

you. Do not

yield to weakness. You have been preparing so long for

this battle to

preserve righteousness.

  "Even as a man casts off worn-out clothes and puts

on others which

are fresh, so the atma casts off bodies and enters

into others which

are new. Bodies are born, and what is born must die.

But the eternal

atma is never born. It never dies. Weapons cannot cut

it, fire cannot

burn it, water cannot wet it and wind cannot dry it.

  "This atma is not your perishable body. it is your

immortal self,

the imperishable self of everyone, once that is known,

then what is

there to grieve for? the wise never grieve... neither

for the dead

nor for the living.

  "I am that atma, Arjuna. I am the supreme Lord of

all, residing in

the heart of every being. I am the father of this

world and also its

mother and sustainer. I am the beginning, the middle

and the end.

Everything is produced out of me. Everything is

pervaded by me. No

creature can exist without me. Whatever path men

travel, it is my

path. Whichever way they go they reach me.

  "Though I am eternally birthless and unchanging,

yet, I incarnate

myself from age to age. Whenever righteousness

declines and

unrighteousness prevails, I take on a form, to protect

the good and

to destroy evil.

  "Veiled as I am by my inscrutable power of illusion,

my Maya, the

world does not recognize me. Although they do not know

me, Arjuna, I

know them all. I know their past, present and future.

In truth, I am

ever unmanifest and imperishable; but not

understanding this

transcendental nature of mine, the ignorant regard me

as a mere

mortal.

  "Knowing nothing of my reality, they ignore me and

become occupied

in the world with vain hopes, vain works and vain

knowledge. Lost in

the maze of Maya, they are spun around like

puppet-dolls on a merry-

go-round.

  "This divine illusion of mine is most difficult to

overcome. Among

thousands of human beings, only a few struggle to know

my truth; even

amongst these that struggle, only one, perchance,

comes to know me in

reality. Such a one is a yogi, one steeped in the

highest wisdom.

Therefore, Arjuna, you should be a yogi! With all your

being take

refuge in me alone, and by my grace you will attain

supreme peace.

  "From this moment on, fix your mind steadily on me

dwelling in your

heart. Be devoted to me, bow down to me, worship me.

Know that I am

always within you and soon you will become one with

me. Yes, truly do

I promise this to you, Arjuna, for you are very dear

to me.

  He who knows my divine birth and work, will not be

born again after

death. He will not lose sight of me, nor I of him.

  "Arjuna, whoever works for me and has me as his

supreme goal,

whoever is devoted to me and is unattached, bearing no

malice towards

any creature, will quickly come to me. Such a one sees

me everywhere,

residing in all beings, as the imperishable amidst the

perishable.

  "For these, who have me ever present in their mind's

eye and serve

me steadfastly with affection, I will carry their

burdens and I will

give them what they need. Talking about me to each

other, they are

forever satisfied and delighted. Out of my compassion

for them, I

strengthen their power of discrimination and destroy

the darkness of

ignorance that beclouds their vision. Bringing their

senses under

control they transcend the world of death and decay,

and attain

immortality.

  "Arjuna, whoever offers me with love, either a leaf,

a flower, a

fruit, or even some water... such devout offerings

coming from a pure

heart, I will surely accept. Whatever you do, whatever

you eat or

sacrifice or give away, whatever austerity you

perform, offer that

first to me. Then you will be free of the consequences

of your

actions, and soon your mind will become calm and wise,

steeped in

renunciation. Endowed with evenness of mind and having

abandoned the

fruits of your actions, you will be freed forever from

the fetters of

birth.

  "Arjuna, resign every action to me. Fix your mind

firmly on me. I

will perform all your actions through you and liberate

you from all

sins. Fear not. By my grace you will overcome all

obstacles.

  "But if from self-conceit you do not listen to me,

you will surely

perish. You may think, 'I will not fight!' But

impelled by your sense

of duty, your own nature will compel you to fight.

What out of

delusion you do not wish to do, you shall do in spite

of yourself.

Arise, Arjuna! With the sword of wisdom that I have

given to you, cut

to pieces this ignorance which doubts the truth that

the divinity is

ever-present in your heart. Arjuna, stand up and

achieve glory! You

are pledged to uphold righteousness! The forces of

unrighteousness

have become rampant. You must encounter them and

destroy them!

  "Take refuge in me, Arjuna. Think of me at all times

and fight! It

is not you who will kill these heroes, but I. I am the

world's

creator and sustainer, but I am also the mighty

world-destroying time

that devours all. Truly, these warriors in hostile

armies have

already been slain by me. You are merely the

instrument through which

I act.

  "Here, I give you a vision of my universal form in

which you can

see the oneness of all existence! Behold my divine

power! Behold the

whole universe, moving and unmoving, all unified in

me!"

  Overwhelmed with wonder and amazement, Arjuna bowed

his head in

adoration and spoke with palms joined, "O supreme

Lord! Hail to you!

Hail, again and again! If the effulgence of a thousand

suns were to

blaze forth together in the skies, their glory could

compare only a

little with your infinite splendor! You are the

imperishable Lord,

the undying guardian of the eternal dharma. You are

everything that

can ever be known. Seeing your awesome form, all the

worlds are

trembling with fear. And so am I. Just as the many

rivers flow

towards the sea, so do all these heroes in the world

of men enter

your flaming mouths."

  Then the blessed Lord again assumed his usual gentle

form as

Krishna, and said, "Graciously have I shown to you

this infinite,

primeval form of mine. It is very rare, indeed, to see

what you have

just seen. Neither by study of the scriptures, nor by

austerities,

nor by charity, nor by rituals, but only by

single-minded devotion

can I be seen thus. This experience of my cosmic form

and this sacred

knowledge that I have taught you are the most precious

of all

treasures.

  "Arjuna, have you listened to me with full

concentration? Has the

delusion caused by your ignorance been dispelled?

Think over

everything that I have said to you, reflect on it

fully, and then do

what pleases you."

  Arjuna answered, "O Lord of the universe! Your

powerful and

wonderful words contain the highest wisdom, and you

have spoken them

with so much compassion. Through your grace, my

delusion is now

destroyed. I stand free of all doubts. Please direct

me! I will do as

you command!"

 

  TO BE CONTINUED

 

  Source:

http://laluni.helloyou.ws/askbaba/saibabagita/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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