“In Prayaga aashrama my guru, Ghor Angirasa who had attained divine knowledge said to me once, ‘Dear Keshava, Achyuta, I have no duties to be fulfilled in the world anymore. I have nothing to gain. Still I am engaged in my duty. Why so? Since then I have been thinking about it and I have come to understand it now that if I don’t shake away laziness and do my duty, then oh Gudakesha, all the people will follow in my footsteps and become inactive and lazy.’”
Now his speech was becoming more and more impressive. Holding my finger, making me walk with him he was going deeper into the cave of life. He said, “Oh Savyasachi – Partha, the material world which is surrounded by the three qualities – Satva (harmony, goodness)Rajasa (passion, active) and Tamasa(chaotic, destructive) – is constantly at work. But delusional, egotistical mankind believes that he is the doer of things! That is why he who has complete knowledge of the Self is considered a great being.
“Oh Jishnu – Bharata, just like the mountains look very attractive from a distance, the duties of others may appear appealing. It is better to die in the line of one’s own prescribed duty. No matter how wonderful and appealing the duties of others may look, following their path is dangerous.”
Now I couldn’t resist myself from asking the questions which I had wanted to ask for a long time. I asked, “Oh saviour of Vrushnis and Andhakas – oh Krishna, why is one impelled to do sinful acts against his own will?”
Now he became solemn which was rare and said, “Understand clearly Dhananjaya that lust and anger are the all-consuming enemies in that regard. Just as smoke covers fire, dust covers a mirror, and the womb covers the embryo, lust and anger cover Truth. Sitting in the castle of sense lust covers intellect and anger covers reason within moments. Therefore, oh
Kiritin, first of all you should conquer the unyielding enemy of lust.”
I was quite composed now. He had conferred upon me knowledge in the unknown cave of Karmayoga. I was realizing that I was indeed his best Sakha; his most favourite. To steer him towards the subjects of Jnanayoga and Sanyasa I said, “Keshava, you were born quite recently. Many great yogis are senior to you by birth. How am I to understand it when you say that you the one who preached the truth of Yoga to mankind?”
Then he gave me a meaningful smile as usual and said, “Oh Kiriti – Kaunteya, I know of all the previous lives that you and I have lived. But, oh Parantapa, you don’t know them. I have to elevate you to my level. Understand that I am unborn and the master of all beings.
“Oh Bharata, whenever there is decline in the practice of Dharma (religion) and a predominant rise in the practice of Adharma (irreligion) I take birth. To protect the righteous people and destroy the immoral, and to re-establish the principles of Dharma I reincarnate in every era.
“You need to comprehend the acute meaning of the words Dharma and Avatar in this context.
“Dharma is that which inculcates Sanskaras in the living being for his healthy development. Performing pompous rituals or meaningless verbose jabbering is not Dharma!
“‘Ava’ means down and ‘tar’ means to rescue. I descend on the earth in the form of Brilliance, to save Life. It doesn’t mean that I will be born with a body that has multiple hands, eyes and faces. I come as any two-handed person who stands up to tackle injustice.
“Arjuna, you are also one of my reincarnations!
“Oh Bibhatsu – Falguni, know very well that Jnana means to know. Everything that one comes to know is not necessarily worth remembering. Therefore, the knowledge that fundamentally benefits life is true knowledge. Nothing is as pure as knowledge in the three worlds. A person who has faith and seeks such knowledge relentlessly by controlling the sense organs that induce commotion within the body, attains it. Always remember that nothing else is as great as attaining pure knowledge in this world. Such knowledge or Vidya is always graced by humility. Such a wise person considers a Brahmin, a cow, an elephant, as well as a dog and a low-caste man as equal.”
Now a buzz had spread among the eleven akshauhini Kaurava army and our seven-akshauhini army – that is about forty lakhs armed warriors ready for the war. It was clearly audible now. I don’t know on what strength, he completely ignored it and talked only a few words about Sanyasayoga with me. “Oh Gudakesha – Falguni, the human body is like a city with nine gates. The Soul is happily resting in it. A Yogi – Sanyasi who learns to control his senses, brain, and mind attains Self-Realization, and is emancipated from life itself.”
Each one of his meaningful utterances was slowly removing the cloud of ignorance from my mind. I was gradually recovering from the initial state of physical debilitation. Even my questions decreased. I decided to listen carefully to what he was saying. His divine words kept flowing. I kept listening. He said, “Man should never undermine himself. One should uplift oneself. For that purpose, one should always remember that we are our own brothers or friends who help us or enemies who bring us down. Dhyanayoga – meditation, is the only practice that helps us realize this. Everyone must obey certain rules to follow Dhyanayoga. Oh Arjuna, he who either eats in excess or starves himself cannot practise Dhyanayoga. So also, he who sleeps too much or keeps awake till late at night cannot achieve Dhyanayoga. Only he who is disciplined in the habits of eating, drinking, sleeping and performs his duties as required is able to practice Dhyanayoga. This kind of Yoga destroys unhappiness and gives happiness to the one who has faith in it.
“A person who practises Dhyanayoga in such a manner is able to see me in everything, everywhere. He can experience that everything is a part of me and I am a part of everything. Such a great man never gets separated from me and I also never get separated from him.”
Because of his reassuring utterances my curiosity got aroused again. I asked him, “Yogayogeshwara Srikrishna, I don’t think the Karmayoga that you are talking about will sustain due to the frailty of mind. This fickle and adamant mind is very difficult to control. I think controlling the mind is as difficult as restraining the wind.”
He was indeed quite determined today to not let me off the hook at all, so he casually said, “Oh Mahabaho – Falguni, no doubt that the mind is volatile and extremely challenging to conquer. But oh Kaunteyaa, with practice and detachment it can be curbed. To practise something is doing it repeatedly with resolve. Such practice gradually removes flaws and faults from that activity. The mind then gradually becomes more and more self-reliant.”
Now he turned to a more profound topic of Jnan-Vijnan yoga. Reminding me about Aacharya Sandipani from the forest of Avanti he said, “Jishnu – Arjuna, listen to what my gurudeva Sandipani had told me long back. What is a Yantra? A Yantra or a machine is a group of shapes that catches momentum due to its inbuilt construction. My Garudadhwaja, your Nandighosha chariot and my Sudarshan chakra are all machines. Lakhs of such chariots are there in your Pandava army and the Kuru army in front of you, but the Truth is beyond all this!
“Oh Bharatashreshtha – Gudakesha, four kinds of virtuous people remember and worship me: distressed – who are afflicted with diseases, inquisitive – who long for attainment of Knowledge, mercenary – who yearn for wealth, and the wise who are blessed due to the acquisition of the knowledge of God and hence become my ardent devotees with a detached mind.
“Remember, the human body is also a machine that runs on the complex network of seventy-two thousand Nadis. He who understands the one who runs that machine attains the knowledge of life in its entirety.
Whichever faith each devotee follows to gain the knowledge of the one who runs this machine, I confirm his faith in the path that he follows.
Faith means unwavering belief. It can never be sighted or blind. It simply exists. Only a thirsty man can understand the satisfaction that he feels after drinking water. No one else can experience or understand it only by words. Even he who says ‘I don’t believe in faith’ has faith in rationalism! Therefore, it is possible to understand a person who is an atheist, but not a faithless person. Faith can change. He who says he has no faith is an eg
otist. I have travelled a lot and I am telling you so much at this moment but what if Aacharya Sandipani or Aacharya Ghor Angirasa stood in front of me at this moment? Then without wasting a moment I will climb down from this Nandighosha chariot of yours. I will, with faith, touch the feet of those great men who have explained life to me. I would rather have faith and even ignorance at times, than being a man with no faith and therefore egotistic and vainly wise.
“Dear Pandava, Desire means lust and anger means the passion for material objects. I am the strength of the strong people, which remains after abolishing these two. I am that Kama, the Desire, which resides within all beings and which is not contrary to Dharma – the inculcation of the Sanskaras, which is useful for the healthy development of all sentient beings. It is indeed difficult to survive my divine Maayaa which comprises various qualities. That is why only those who surrender themselves to me are liberated from the illusion of my Maayaa.
“Dhairyashil Dhananjaya, after many births one experiences that ‘Everything in this world is a manifestation of Vaasudeva’. It is extremely rare to find such a great soul who has experienced it.
“I know all the beings who existed in the past, who exist in the present, and who will exist in the future. But oh Jayishnu – Jnanlobhi – Kaunteya, no one knows me.”
Now he entered the more mysterious, dense forest of Philosophy. He said, “Listen very carefully to what I am going to tell you while remembering Aacharya Ghor Angirasa who taught me Aksharabrahmayoga. Brahma is Akshara – that principle which can be never destroyed. He who knows it with all its subtleties is Brahmin! He doesn’t necessarily belong to any particular dynasty, caste or colour. Adhyatma – Spirituality is the art or vidya of understanding such Akshara Brahma!
“Knowing all this, in the end the one who leaves his body remembering me ultimately becomes one with me. It also means that the one who spends his entire life remembering me too unites with me in the end.”
As he mentioned the words beginning and end, a few questions arose in my mind. I said to him, “Do you mean to say Day is the beginning and Night is the end?” Realising my ignorance, he smiled and said, “Try to understand clearly the meaning of Day and Night. Time cannot be measured by the standard of human days and nights. For that you will have to understand what a single day of Brahmadeva is. One Mahayuga or Great-era consists of four eras – Krita, Treta, Dwapara and Kali. The Kaliyuga has commenced now. A single day of Brahmadeva consists of one thousand such Mahayugas and similarly a single night consists of one thousand such Mahayugas. When Brahmadeva’s day commences, all material things come into existence from the Immaterial and when his night commences they gradually merge back into the same Immaterial in the sequence that they came. This cycle of creation and destruction of things is continuously going on. This is called the theory of ‘Undulation’.
“That means the world continuously passes through two states namely Shukla and Vadya or Brightness and Darkness. One cannot come back the same way that one has gone by. The world cannot change the direction of its motion. As the world is round, one has to go through one state and come out through another.
“Oh Savyasachi – Gudakesha, a Karmayogi who understands both these states completely never gets entangled in temptation. Therefore, oh vikrami – Arjuna, try to become a detached Karmayogi forever.
“To attain such level of detachment one needs to question himself – Who am I? The resulting answer to that question also culminates in me. That is why, oh Mahabaho – Maharathi – Arjuna, you are feeling contented with my answers. Therefore, I am going to tell the most beneficial thing for you again, so listen.” Now he touched the subject of divine Vibhutiyoga the most alluring Yoga that reminds every sentient being of Him at every step. He started expounding to me who he is, in many different ways. I was indeed most fortunate that I was getting to hear it in person actually from him. He started telling who he is, and the surprising thing was that while hearing it gradually I started realizing who I am. By his grace the tiny Arjuna within me began expanding sky-wide like him. I came to know the various ways and the intensity of my complete involvement in him. I began merging in him like sugar dissolving in water. If a fish made of salt dived into the ocean to assess its depth, instead of coming back up it would dissolve in the ocean – something similar happened to my consciousness. He kept talking and I kept getting the knowledge of who he is and also who I have become!
He was Narayana – the Almighty himself. The fundamental reason of the universe, detached from everything. I was Nara – the Man – merely a means to accomplish his goal.
Now his divine speech flourished like the scintillating plumage of a peacock, blooming spontaneously after hearing the sounds of roaring clouds in the Mriga constellation. I kept staring at the peacock feather tucked in his crown. He continued talking, I kept on listening. He said, “All the emotions and mental aspects of all sentient beings such as intellect, knowledge, ignorance,forgiveness, truth, vigour, self-control, joy-sorrow, faith-scepticism, fear-courage, nonviolence, equality, contentment, penance, charity, success, and failure come into existence only from me.”
Hearing his words, I started getting confused again. I brought my palms together while sitting and said pleadingly, “You are the most holy and pure Supreme Spirit. Only you are the divine and eternal element that is all-pervading. Devarishi Narada, Asit Devala and Maharishi Vyasa also say so. Now you yourself are telling me the same thing. Oh Keshava, I believe every single word that you are saying. Oh Bhutesha – creator of all beings, Lord of the universe – Devadeva, Oh Supreme Being, you know yourself in entirety. Oh Narayana, please grant me your grace and elaborate your divine powers which are over and above the three worlds even after occupying them, oh Bhagvan. Narayana, I am an ignorant human being. Please do me a favour and explain to me how and where I should find and recognize you in your many forms in daily life.”
Now his face, dazzling with the brightness of thousands of suns, started looking incredibly resplendent. It felt as if he had gone far away, even beyond the sky, within a moment, even though he was standing in front of me in the Nandighosha chariot. The next moment it felt like he was right inside my heart. The thick lashes of his fish-shaped eyes fluttered; his bow-shaped crimson lips quivered. In his melodious voice in which he had talked to the gopas of Gokul he said affectionately,
“Nidrajayi - Gudakesha – Arjuna, I am the Soul that resides in all sentient beings. I am also the beginning, the middle and the end of it. I am Vishnu among the twelve Aadityas.
“Among all the radiant beings I am the dazzling Sun that is shining at this moment atop the Nandighosha chariot and your head. I am Marichi among the Marutas, Moon among the Nakshatras and among the Vedas I am Samaveda which is dedicated to Music. I am Indra among the gods.
“I am the vibrant Prana energy that pervades all beings. Among the senses, I am the Mind.”
I began grasping each and every single word with full concentration like a royal swan on Manasa sarovar picking up the fibre of a lotus stalk. He kept on talking, I went on listening. He said, “I am Shankara among the eleven Rudras, Kubera among the Yaksha-rakshasas, a Vasu named Pavaka among the eight Vasus and among the mountains I am Mount Meru.
“Savyasachi – Jishnu – Arjuna, listen carefully to the supreme truth, that I am the one syllable word ‘ॐ’ among the Vanis. The phonetic sounds ‘De’(A) ‘G’(U) and ‘ce’(M) in the word ‘ॐ’ are located in my feet, stomach and the crown of my head respectively.
“I am the Ashwattha or Pipal tree among various trees. Narada among the Devarishis, Chitraratha among the Gandharvas, Kapilamuni among the Siddhas, and among the horses’ I am the stallion Uchchhaishravasa that came out during the ocean churning.
“I am Airavata among the elephants, King among the men and Vajra among the weapons. Therefore, I have used my Sudarshan like the Vajra, only when necessary.
“Parakrami – Partha, I am Kamadhenu among the cows. She is dear to me as I am a cowherd.
“Vij
igishu – Dhanurdhara – Dhananjaya, I am Kama – the libido that induces reproduction. To conquer the libido by self-control is like winning me over.
“Falguni – Kaunteya, I am Vasuki among the serpents, Ananta among the Nagas, Varuna among the water dwellers, the soul named Aryama among the souls of ancestors, and most significantly Yama – the lord of death who brings equilibrium to the world!
“Oh Kiritin – Kaunteya, I am Prahlada among the Daityas and Rama among the possessors of arms.
Purushottama – Partha, I am Lion – the king of the jungle among the animals, Nakra among the fish and Garuda among the birds.
“Jayishnu – Arjuna, I am Bhagirathi among the rivers, Vayu among the swift, Kala among the ones that swallow up. Dear friend Arjuna, I am the beginning, middle and end of the universe. I am Adhyatmavidya – Spirituality among the Vidyas. “Among the letters, I am the letter ‘De’, among the Samaasas I am Dwandwa and four faced Brahmadeva – that is also me.
“Oh Kirtivan – Kaunteya, I am the qualities of Kirti - fame, Sri- fortune, Vani - speech, Smriti - memory, Medha - intelligence, Dhriti - courage, Kshama - forgiveness among women.
“Parakrami – Falguni, among the meters I am the Gayatri meter of the renowned Savitru mantra. I am Margashirsha among the months and Vasanta, the season of spring among the seasons.
“Aajnadhari – Arjuna, I am the splendour of the splendid, I am the victory. I am the resolve and I am the quintessence.
“Oh Satshil – Savyasachi, I am Vyasa among the munis, Shukracharya among the poets, and the royal sceptre of the rulers. I am the knowledge of the wise. I am the germ of all beings. No animate or inanimate being exists without me.”
He said, “Dear friend Arjuna, you, Dhananjaya, the one who is my most favourite among the Pandavas – is also me. I am Vaasudeva among all the Yadavas of the eighteen clans!
Srikrishna- the Lord of the Universe Page 76
