krishnas speech at the battleground chapter seven

krishnas speech at the battleground – VII CHAPTER – VII WHAT BEST COULD WE GET OUT OF DEATH Krishna, the cosmic mind asks Arjuna, the ego, to be drawn to Krishna only. Krishna here describes what gains Arjuna will derive if he tries to be in unison with Krishna, the cosmic mind. Krishna tells him what knowledge he will acquire and what un-knowledge he will attain. Very few, indeed, know Krishna even after they strive for that. Krishna says that the phenomenal world or the Nature itself leaps forth from his own nature. It has eight primordial elements in earth, water, air, fire, ether, mind, intellect and ego. The first five elements go to forge nature; the eight elements together make man. The observer of the world, man is but conditioned by the world itself. But he has three additional elements in himself which are called human faculties. He enjoys the universe with them. Man is drawn to the phenomenal world because much of him is in common with the phenomenal world. But one must go beyond the phenomenal world to know the truth beyond it. According to Hindu notion, 432,ooo solar years make four ages. 4320,000,000 solar years make a day for the creator. During the end of the day all life in the existence become unmanifest; they live in that state for the whole night consisting of 4320,000,000 solar years. Thereafter they are manifest again. The creator lives for hundred years. Creator’s hundred years amount to 1,5552 x 1014 solar years. When the creator himself dies the elements of Nature also become unmanifest. At that time water devours up the smell of the land. Fire annuls the taste of the water. Wind puts an end to the sun which is the fountainhead of all fire. The ether then does away with the touch of wind. Sound which is the quality of the ether disappears into ego. Nature destroys the ego. The manifest Nature then becomes unmanifest. The unmanifest Nature vanishes into the ineffable one and its dreams. Thus the manifest Nature is but the epiphenomenon of the unmanifest Nature which is the Superior Nature. It is this Superior Nature that holds this existence in its arms. And this Superior Nature is Krishna’s own. Krishna says that everything whatever in the phenomenal world including life is the creation of these two types of Nature. Krishna is thus the creator and the destroyer of the universe. There is nothing beyond Krishna. Everything whatever in the phenomenal world has been woven into a pattern with the thread of Krishna’s being. Thus the particulars in the universe make a whole. And Krishna is the unseen wrap on which the woof of the phenomenal world has been woven. Krishna says that he is the taste of the water. He is the luminosity of the sun and the moon. He is the primordial sound from where all knowledge proceeds. He is the sound that animates the ether. He is the human nature in man. He is the holy fragrance of the much loved earth of ours. He is the fire that burns. He is the life in all living things. He is the fire of penance that burns in the sages. He is the primordial and deathless seed of all existence. He is the ineffable one. There are numerous theories about the creation. One of them is the theory of Big Bang. It posits that from an indeterminate point the atoms were rushing out in all directions and the universe is expanding like a balloon. This can be testified through the observation of stars moving away from galaxies. But the distance between galaxies A and B is always proportionately the same as the distance between galaxies B and C. Some scientists opine that the rate of expansion is slowing down. And a time may come when the universe will start contracting till after aeons it comes back to the starting point, the one. Taking the present rate of expansion of the Universe as constant, the scientists surmise that the age of the present Universe is 10 thousand million years. The total time span of the expansion and contraction of the universe as envisaged by Hindu sages is 432 million years that constitute the creators one day. The atoms will rest in the primeval fire ball for another 432 million years, the night of the creator, and then they will rush out again with the birth of a new universe. Those scientists, who believe that the universe will contract, know that the universe will begin anew. The idea of periodically contracting and expanding universe is both found in the world of the Mahabharata and in the modern times. The primeval ball of the universe, the ineffable one from which the universe springs, remains in the diversity that is the universe. It is Krishna who is the perennial seed, from which everything began and which remains in everything. Krishna is the intelligence of the intelligent. He is the glory of the most glorious. He is the prowess of the valiant which is free from desire and sexual urge. He is desire also. But he is the type of desire that does not stand in the way of the cosmic order. Earlier Krishna debunked all desire on our part. Because he is very possessive. He does not want us to do anything but love him. He wants Arjuna to leave all thoughts aside and act to please him only. If it is war that Krishna wants war he must for the love of Krishna. But Krishna knows that however much he loves them, the common herd will not hear him. Hence Krishna agrees to be lenient to them. He acknowledges the fact that he is the seed of desire in us. But he identifies himself with the desire that is in harmony with Nature. The world of the Mahabharata speaks of four goals in human life. They are (1) the understanding of the laws of the universe and the society (2) wealth (3) carnal desire and (4) liberation. Life has to be lived after all. There everyone has to play the many roles that life and society asks for. In the childhood one has to learn how to fight the battle of life. At this stage the child imbibes the existing do’s and dont’s of the society. He learns the prevalent interpretation of his life and times. He keeps his seed up and conserves his energy. Thus having necessary education and conserved energy our hero has to go forth in the wider world. There he marries and becomes a family man. Repressed nature takes revenge. So his desires must be given an outlet to manifest. Hence his marriage. He marries to procreate. In order that he can support the family he has to earn money. But the goal set for life in the early childhood in liberation, and the conscience that has been already created in the childhood through the teaching of the prevalent social order act together as checks. Wealth and sexual desire are not the end in themselves. The hero, through his youth and middle age learns to become the stay of his family, relatives and children. Gradually he grows in strength to support a bigger community. His love for his own family expands to his love for the larger family called the society. He then gives himself up to the contemplation of the well-being of the society. He leaves his home for the woods. This is the third stage of life. The woods here might mean symbolically the larger life of the society. Gradually he sets up his communication with the cosmic mind. The fourth stage is attained. Death awaits every living being. He dies in perfect peace being in communion with the world-soul. What is world order was taught to him as a child. In the old age he realises the world; his life thus comes full circle. Such a scheme of life makes ample room for the desires of life to manifest. But they have to be manifested in a controlled way to the end of peace and liberation. Desires are like steam having great power. But unless we drive the stream through a small passage it cannot move piston and the steam engine does not roll. We have to use the great power of the energy called desire to move our beings towards the realisation of our higher self. Let a scientist attain great knowledge. But may his knowledge be used to the end of the benefit of humanity. Indeed, science has already advanced to such extent that if we could use its discoveries to the full, the world would not suffer from any scarcity of wealth, even if only those who are willing to work among us worked; let those be alone who choose to remain idle. Let the capitalist make more money, let the politician have more power. But they must see to that the getting and spending of the society is not disturbed. If the whole world is impoverished where will the capitalist sell his goods? If the society dies of starvation what will the rich man do with riches? We want to be rich in relation to others. It is a pity that humanity is writhing under the yoke controlled by a coterie consisting of scientists, politicians and rich men who are very egoistic. They must first realise that they have not been the architects of their own fate. Despite all the qualities of head and heart, man does not succeed in the world, unless luck favours him. It is Nature that worked through the unknown factor called luck. The scientist discovers a law through accident. The capitalist finds his speculation more result oriented than he expected. But let man do whatever he can, Nature works through man and the society. The shape of things are changing fast. Multinational companies are now being transformed into transnational ones with people from different nations having shares in it. The economy of one country is welded with another country more closely than ever. For example the U.S. Government has become dependent on Japanese investors for nearly a third for the funds needed to finance its deficits. Japan and America are so close to each other economically, politically and militarily that the decisions in the Senate may affect Japan. The decisions in the Diet might affect America. Democracy presupposes that those who are affected by a decision have a right to participate in the decision- making body. In that case Japan may ask for a seat in the Senate and America may ask for the right to representation in the Diet. The nation states are being undermined. The United Nations is a trade union of the nation states. Tomorrow it may have to make provision for the representation of other organisations also including trans- national corporate bodies. No one willed such a pass. But the information revolution that takes place will bring about such changes on its own. Krishna says that this is the doing of Nature. Man is a fool when he brags that he has done all these. But man must participate in history with his desires and limited visions. Krishna says that desire, if any, should be controlled towards the betterment of self and the society. Of course the positive, the negative and the neutral qualities of the nature, history and man spring from Krishna. These three qualities of creation, preservation and destruction are omnipresent in the nature and life. Nothing in universe is free from them. But Krishna asserts that although they spring from his own nature only, he is not bound by his nature. He is not therefore subject to any change. In order to embrace Krishna one has to therefore surpass the powers of nature. Krishna, however, warns that the superior Nature and the inferior Nature which spring from his nature, create such an illusory universe which is difficult to cross. Only those who have prayers to Krishna can achieve that. Those who are egoistic and dull, do not take refuge in Krishna. They are devils. Their wisdom is stolen away by the superior Nature. Krishna says that the sorrow stricken, the inquisitive, the pleasure-seeker and the wise- these four types of men worship him. The wise man is the noblest among them. The wise man looks upon everything in the world with even temper. He worships the one. Krishna says that he is very much fond of the wise man. The wise man also loves him in turn. Men of other types are also good. But the wise man is Krishna’s self. The wise man is like Krishna himself. Because he knows that there is no higher goal than attaining Krishna. Even such a wise man finds the consummation of his love for Krishna after numerous births and deaths. The like of him who finds Krishna in everything whatever in the universe is rare indeed. People have other objects of love in this world. They ask for beauty power, wealth, and fame. To that end they pray to their gods. There are thousands of such gods worshipped by the Hindus. There is the goddess of snakes. There is the goddess of smallpox and chicken pox. People pray to them and appease them. Many such gods are there among other religions also. The Aztecs of Mexico, for example, prayed to Uitzilopochtli as the god of sun and fire. Tezcatlipoca is their god of the dry season of sereness. The Aztecs have the gods of growth, the rain gods, the god of the luminaries and planets, the drink gods and so on. But those who do not worship idols have their own gods as well. They are the object of their pursuit. Thus power is itself the god that the politician pursues. Yes, Krishna says he is all these gods. He rewards the devotee in the shape of the god that the devotee worships. This poses a number of questions. First What is Krishna? He is the mind of the universe. He is the universe. The universal mind or Krishna lies in everyone’s heart. Each one of us, could we know ourselves, in the universal mind and the universe and Krishna. But we do not know ourselves. In our ignorance, we imagine other gods. They are real. Because, nothing in the universe can be imagined which is not made of the stuff of Krishna. When we ourselves are the universe we do not ask for anything. When we take the fragments that we are for truth, we create gods out of our own imagination and no doubt they are the parts of the body of Krishna himself. We could picture Krishna to be a great man with his head above the stars and arms in all directions. All the gods, stars, planets, men, animals, insects and elements of the existence form his body. So whichever god we choose to worship Krishna appears to us in the form of that god only and gives boon. This is why one aim, one longing for anything, be it wealth, power, scholarship, or skill in football is often rewarded. Of course, in real life there is no definite co-relation between input and output. Many boys are working hard. But there is only one Brain Lara among these hard-working cricketers. The great South African cricketer Barry Richards, despite his great talent did not get his due from the world. Much of it happens because of the carry forward of the results of earlier births to this birth. But we who fail in this life are sure to succeed in the life to come provided our aim does not change its name. At the same time Brain Laras in the field of cricket, Michael Jacksons in the realm of songs, who have god’s plenty in them, must desire in a way so that their talents are directed towards the common good. Or else, in life to come there might be retrogression in his state and fortunes. Every desire, however, has its own gods. When men are like imps, devils are their gods and Krishna humours those imps and pimps too in the form of devils. In short Krishna disowns no one. Every man, every desire and every god are the part of his being. Krishna says that let a man worship any good. Krishna strengthens his devotion to that god till he gets his heart’s desire through that god. However, such desires are for tangible things. So their attainments do not persist for long. Once you taste of success in one field, you rush for another. In India the successful film actors therefore try to make a mark in politics. The politicians seek to earn more money in illegal way and so on. No one is satisfied with one’s lot. Because, success in Cricket or share-market cannot give one the taste of ambrosia. Once a man has the taste of ambrosia he does not long for anything else. Surely, those who live in the light of higher values of altruism and worship the gods in consonance with that, go to heaven the abode of gods, after death. Heaven, hell and numerous other worlds are there. They are the creations of our own imagination only. But we cannot stay long in the world of our fancy. Thus our stay in heaven also has to be for a short while. Our pious deeds reap their harvests in heaven; we must come back to earth to begin where we had ended in our last birth. Even gods are not permanent. Kings who could perform one thousand sacrifices for the well-being of the world would become the Kings of gods. The kingship of gods is also a temporary post, even the heaven is not eternal. It is destroyed during the mighty cataclysm with the end of the day and the beginning of the night for the creator. On the contrary, those who worship Krishna attain Krishna only. The fools do not know who Krishna is. He is the supreme being; he has no death. Krishna says that he is hidden by his own Superior Nature. That is why the fools cannot find him out. Krishna says that he knows everything, the past, present and future of the universe. But the universe does not know him. At the hour of creation, the contradictions and the delusion that sprang with the emergence of desire and hatred clouded their eyes. They cannot see through the cataract. They remain ever in ignorance of the god-head of Krishna though it is always there before him. Krishna assures Arjuna and assures the world that those who seek to get rid of the birth and death cycle will come to understand and Cosmic Being, the spiritual plane plane of the universe and the nature of work in the universe. Those who understand Krishna on different levels can commune with Krishna even at the moment of death. The great battle of Kurukshetra will cause death to many. But no one can escape death. Death can be deferred. But death cannot be avoided. So, if die we must, let us not fly from its invitation. Let us see what best could we get out of death. Can we dare realise our higher self Krishna through death. One must die to be born stronger than ever. One must realise one’s higher self to usher in an age of super- man. Click here to Reply