Many years ago I went to a church service where the minister delivered a very strong sermon. The congregation seemed to enjoy it tremendously, and I realized how, in today’s world, we need someone who will occasionally shock us into the awareness that we are on the wrong path. Once in the pulpit this minister started hurling forked lightning in all directions; and when the climax of the sermon came, he started singling out members of the congregation whom he knew, telling them, “You’re a sinner.” I was cowering, hoping that he wouldn’t call on me, because in the Hindu way I had always been told, “You’re a saint.” When everyone is in a conspiracy to convince us, even when it seems unjustified, that we are a saint, one day we give in and actually become one. On the other hand, when our negative behavior is emphasized, when we are told we are sinners, we develop guilt feelings. So please tell your children that they are little saints, even when they seem not to warrant it. We can help adults in this same way too by always emphasizing their bright side. Everyone has a favorable side, and when we are patient and forbearing, people will rise to our expectations.
41. When such people die, they go to other realms where the righteous live. They dwell there for countless years and then are reborn into a home which is pure and prosperous.
In this verse Sri Krishna tells us that if we give up meditation after some years because of overpowering sense-desires or self-will, he will carefully store our sadhana for us so we can pick it up later. The Lord is a good storekeeper, and he will keep our sadhana in a packet carefully put away on the shelf until we come and reclaim it the next time we enter the human context. When we return to the store and ask him, “Will you look for something I forgot last time? It’s a packet of six years’ meditation,” Sri Krishna will say, “I’ve kept it very carefully up on this shelf. It’s a pretty good packet; weighs a good bit, you know.”
As proof of this he tells us we will be born next time into a family with good parents, who will help us by their personal example to be patient and forgiving and to lead the spiritual life. This is perhaps why I had the great blessing to be born as the grandchild of my Grandmother. If you ask my mother how she accounts for her boy, who led such an ordinary life, becoming aware of his real Father, she will say that I have been looking for Him for many centuries, practicing meditation and calling, “Where are you, dad?” all the time, until one day He said, “Here I am, son.”
42. Or they may be born into a family where meditation is practiced. To be born into such a family is extremely rare.
It is a sound law that whatever effort we put forward on the spiritual path is never wasted. In accordance with the theory of rebirth or reincarnation, Sri Krishna reassures us that if we find it too difficult to meditate and lead the spiritual life, then in our next life we may be born into a home where our parents meditate. There is no greater privilege than this, for it gives us an early start in our search for the Self.
According to the theory of reincarnation, we have chosen every one of our relationships carefully, especially our relationship with our parents. In Bardo, where according to the Tibetans we wait to come into this life, all of us have scorecards, and we tally up our samskaras to make sure we have a perfect match. Parents and children resemble each other in so many ways that it is unfair for us to criticize our mother or father, for we are so much like them. In Bardo nobody gets a lemon; there are good points about every parent and every child that we should always emphasize. Where the parents support meditation, it is especially fortunate; and where the family considers it a great boon for the son or daughter to be meditating, it is a blessing to the whole family. But even if our parents are not meditating with us, they will come to have a certain gratitude that their child is striving to lead a life that will benefit everyone around him. Therefore it is good for all of us to begin or end our meditation with a prayer for the welfare of our parents and all the other members of our family.
43. The wisdom they have acquired in previous lives will be reawakened, Arjuna, and they will strive even harder for Self-realization.
44. Indeed, they will be driven on by the strength of their past disciplines. Even one who inquires after the practice of meditation rises above those who simply perform rituals.
For twenty or twenty-five years we may have been studying at school, going surfing, and learning all kinds of skills, but never thinking about meditation or the spiritual life because the need for it seemed far away. Then one day we go to the Tilden Meditation Room at the University of California, where someone is talking about the Bhagavad Gita. Some words and phrases get into our consciousness, and we go home dazed. We think about what he said, we ponder over it, and finally a little window in our consciousness opens and we decide to give meditation a try.
There is a certain magnetism between us and the Lord which we have been unaware of all this time. Until we come of age we are like little magnets, trying by our own efforts to find fulfillment; but when we bring ourselves close to the Lord, his immense magnetism draws us on effortlessly.
According to the Gita, desire for the spiritual life is not a sudden development. It lies within us, just waiting for us to remember it. After meditating several years there is a sudden deepening in meditation, and we start regaining the memory of what we had already learned; our values become more selfless, more noble, and more spiritual. When this occurs, we are not adding anything new to our knowledge or wisdom; we are remembering what has been within us all the time. All of us who are meditating have had some previous spiritual experience; and in certain cases this experience is rather substantial, which explains some of the differences in progress in meditation. These dissimilarities need never dishearten us, because we all can pick up and go forward as rapidly as we want from wherever we stopped before.
When the power of our spiritual efforts in past lives begins to rise up in our consciousness, it is often felt as restlessness, a condition that is characteristic of many young people today. Restlessness is really a call to meditation; and once we have regained our previous knowledge, once we have recalled our previous sadhana, all our desires, all our motivation for the spiritual life will deepen tremendously. The first three or four years of meditation require a lot of strenuous, often painful effort, but once we have regained our knowledge, much of the pain and many of our doubts fall away. Then we want to strive even harder and give all we can to the spiritual life, which is a sign that we have regained our spiritual heritage. It is as if we were vina players who have not played for twenty-five years. When we pick up the vina, it feels so strange; our fingers do not know their way. But we go on practicing day after day, day after day, and suddenly our fingers remember their skill and the song comes out in all its sonorous glory: Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare; Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare.
45. Through constant effort over many lifetimes a person becomes purified of all selfish desires and attains the supreme goal of life, union with the Lord.
One day Sri Ramana Maharshi was telling those around him that they had been together for many, many centuries, and Major Chadwick, a good British disciple, said, “I don’t believe it.” Sri Ramana Maharshi just smiled and told his disciple, “You have simply forgotten.” We, too, have forgotten our previous sadhana; but even if we try to lead a careless, sensate life, the power of our past efforts will turn all pleasure to ashes.
I have seen people plunging into the world of sense pleasure in the hopes that this would lead to joy, and I have seen these hopes turn into frustration and despair in a very short time. Sri Krishna says that these are people who are highly evolved but do not realize their true capacities, who are highly spiritual but like to think that they are very sensate. They go to every restaurant on Telegraph Avenue, but only find their palate clamoring to be controlled. Terribly bored, they ask if this is all there is to the pleasure of the senses. There are many such young people today who have forgotten their real spiritual stature, and it is a great pity that in spite of their boredom and frustration
they should keep on trying to play the game of the senses, which I sometimes call the sad-go-round. Instead of criticizing such people, we should remind them of the joy which awaits them if they will only reclaim their spiritual heritage.
Sri Krishna tells us that when the power of our previous spiritual development forces us to turn to meditation as a last resort, even on these terms he will welcome us, saying: “This is one of my thousand names, the Last Resort. Far from holding it against you, I welcome you with open arms; for you have come in spite of yourself, driven by your true spiritual nature.”
In order to claim our past sadhana, in order to recall our old disciplines, the family context is just right for us. Instead of trying to embrace the whole world at the outset, we should learn to love our family and then gradually extend this love more and more. We are living in a world racked with violence and agitation, and in the early days of our sadhana it is difficult to go against our self-will, say no to our senses, and put the welfare of others first. Yet we have to learn not only to swim in this sea of strife but to contribute to its calmness and peace. So Sri Krishna tells us to jump in and he will teach us to swim; and when we jump we find ourselves safe in his arms.
Yesterday at the swimming pool I played the role of instructor. Geetha, who had missed a number of swimming lessons because of a cold, made me promise to give her special instructions. First I had to get her to jump into the water, which naturally frightened her. She loves me very much, so I had only to tell her to jump into my arms and she jumped. Then, holding on to me tightly, she kicked her way across the pool. I told her that next time she should hold on to me with only one hand; then the third time, she should use both her arms and feet to swim. In this way she would soon discover she could swim, and I would be by her side all the time. Similarly, when we become completely self-reliant and depend on the Lord of Love within in order to live for those around us, we will find he is there all the time. Even if we try, we cannot be drowned.
Around the pool there were swimming instructors walking about with long poles to rescue anyone in trouble. To me, living today is like being in a swimming pool without knowing how to swim. When we hate those who hate us, when we burst out in anger against those who are angry against us, it is because we do not know how to swim. But when we try to swim – returning love for hatred and compassion for anger – even if we sink a little and gasp for air, Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Ramakrishna, St. Francis, and many others are there holding out a long pole to rescue us. There is no need to be afraid, for there is always some illumined person to rescue us from the sea of life called samsara.
46. Meditation is superior to severe asceticism and the path of knowledge. It is also superior to selfless service. May you attain the goal of meditation, Arjuna!
Here Sri Krishna tells Arjuna that the person who meditates is superior even to those who follow ascetic disciplines. The Buddha, who once underwent such disciplines, reminds us that by starving the body or breaking the senses we cannot attain illumination, but by treating the body with wisdom, by giving it what it needs and gently denying it what it does not need, we turn the body into a true servant.
Sri Krishna also says the person who meditates is superior to those who follow the path of knowledge. Knowledge is looked upon here as a steep slope up which ordinary people like us cannot climb, but meditation enables us to acquire wisdom gradually and become wise by developing a higher mode of knowing.
Finally, the Lord tells us that the person who meditates is superior to those who are devoted to selfless action, for without meditation, self-will can enter into the most loving relationships and distort the most selfless efforts. The verse ends with the Lord’s blessing, given out of such love and compassion that it should be dear to everyone who seeks the Self: “May you attain the goal of meditation.” So may we all attain the goal.
47. Even among those who meditate, that man or woman is dearest to Me who has become completely absorbed in Me, and worships Me with perfect faith.
Even among meditators, Sri Krishna has a special favorite whom he loves to support, whom he wants united with him. This is the one who meditates on the Lord with a one-pointed mind, who does everything in life for the Lord’s sake. Such a person will ask himself: “If I eat this, will it strengthen my body so that I can serve the Lord? If I act this way, will it strengthen my mind and my will so that I can serve the Lord?” Sri Krishna is deeply in love with such a man or woman, whose consciousness is permeated with the presence of the Lord.
Every one of us can become Sri Krishna’s favorite through sustained, systematic, enthusiastic practice of meditation. In this sixth chapter, “The Practice of Meditation,” the Lord has told us that without meditation it is not possible to acquire spiritual wisdom, to act selflessly, or to bring about the much-needed transformation of our character, conduct, and consciousness. When we take to meditation and persevere, no matter what the obstacles, we will find the Lord’s grace coming to us in many ways; we will be blessed with vibrant health, with increasing security, and with the ability to harness our creative resources to solve even the most difficult problems. By seeking the Self through meditation, we will come to live in awareness of the unity of life expressed in everyone, everywhere, every minute.
PASSAGE FOR MEDITATION
Living in Wisdom
ARJUNA
Tell me of those
Who live always in wisdom, ever aware
Of the Self, O Krishna; how do they talk,
How sit, how move about?
SRI KRISHNA
They live in wisdom
Who see themselves in all and all in them,
Whose love for the Lord of Love has consumed
Every selfish desire and sense craving
Tormenting the heart. Not agitated
By grief or hankering after pleasure,
They live free from lust and fear and anger.
Fettered no more by selfish attachments,
They are not elated by good fortune
Or depressed by bad. Such are the seers.
Even as a tortoise draws in its limbs,
The wise can draw in their senses at will.
Though aspirants abstain from sense pleasures,
They will still crave for them. These cravings all
Disappear when they see the Lord of Love.
For even of those who tread the path,
The stormy senses can sweep off the mind.
But they live in wisdom who subdue them,
And keep their minds ever absorbed in Me.
When you keep thinking about sense objects,
Attachment comes. Attachment breeds desire,
The lust of possession which, when thwarted,
Burns to anger. Anger clouds the judgment;
You can no longer learn from past mistakes.
Lost is the power to choose between the wise
And unwise, and your life is utter waste.
But when you move amidst the world of sense
From both attachment and aversion freed,
There comes the peace in which all sorrows end
And you live in the wisdom of the Self.
The disunited mind is far from wise;
How can it meditate? How be at peace?
When you know no peace, how can you know joy?
When you let your mind heed the Siren call
Of the senses, they will carry away
Your better judgment as storms drive a boat
Off its safe-charted course to certain doom.
Use all your power to set the senses free
From attachment and aversion alike,
And live in the full wisdom of the Self.
Such a sage awakes to light in the night
Of all creatures. That which the world calls day
Is the night of ignorance to the wise.
As the rivers flow into the ocean
But cannot make the vast ocean overflow,
So flow the magic streams of the s
ense-world
Into the sea of peace that is the sage.
They are forever free who break away
From the ego-cage of I, me, and mine
To be united with the Lord of Love.
This is the supreme state. Attain to this
And pass from death to immortality.
Glossary & Guide
to Sanskrit Pronunciation
This brief glossary is a guide to Sanskrit terms used in this volume. Words used once and explained in context are not included. As a rough guide, Sanskrit vowels may be pronounced as in Italian or Spanish. The combinations kh, gh, jh, th, dh, ph, and bh are always pronounced as the consonant plus a slight h sound: e.g., ph as in haphazard (not as in phone). Pronounce ch as in church; h as in home; g as in gold; j as in June except in the combination jn, which can be pronounced like gn in Italian compagna. The other consonants are approximately as in English.
Every Sanskrit vowel has a short and a long form, the long pronounced for twice as long as the short. The diphthongs – e, ai, o, au – are also long.
The Sanskrit alphabet has 48 characters, each representing a precisely defined sound. Scholars represent these characters in our Roman alphabet by adding marks to letters as necessary, creating a system of spelling that is precise but confusing to the general reader. For simplicity, these differentiating marks have been omitted in this e-book, but may be found in the printed edition.
* * *
abhyasa Regular practice.
advaita [‘not two’] Having no duality; the supreme Reality, which is the “One without a second.” The word advaita is especially used in Vedanta philosophy, which stresses the unity of the Self (Atman) and Brahman.
ahamkara [aham ‘I’; kara ‘maker’] Self-will, separateness, the fundamental barrier which prevents Self-realization and awareness of the unity of all life.
The End of Sorrow Page 40
