Jag kamana hai shatru Govinda Radhey,
Vako Hari or mori mitra bana dey.
(Part 2 – Synopsis of a lecture given by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj in Mussoorie, India, on July 16, 2010)
Because our body, mind and intellect are material, we can’t know God. We can’t see Him. We don’t have the faculties that will enable us to do this. Just like when we were newborns, we had no idea who we were. We didn’t recognise anything. We didn’t know what to eat or what to do. We had no understanding. Only one thing was at our disposal: crying. Was any infant ever taught that if he cries, then whatever he needs will be taken care of? A baby cries and his mother comes running, “What happened? Why are you crying? Oh, you are hungry!” The child has no concern; his mother takes complete care.
This is called complete surrender. This is found throughout the Gita. Arjuna said, “I won’t fight.” Krishna said, “Why not? In Dwarika you asked for Me in this war. You said, ‘Shri Krishna will be on our side!’ And I gave my army to the Kauravas.” Before the war Shri Krishna told Arjuna and Duryodhan they could select either 18 armed divisions of His own army or Himself alone and unarmed. Arjuna said, “I want you.” Arjuna didn’t say, “Give half of the army to me and half to Duryodhana.” This means he knew that Shri Krishna was supreme God. He thought if Shri Krishna was on the side of the Pandavas, they would win. Otherwise, he would have certainly asked for half of Shri Krishna’s army.
Even so, when he stood before the armies at the start of the war and looked towards both sides, he said, “I won’t fight.” Why? “These are all my relatives. If I fight them, they will die. All my respected elders are there.” Shri Krishna said, “But didn’t you realise who you would have to fight against? When you asked for Me unarmed, didn’t you think what would happen to the Kauravas in the war?”
Arjuna knew, but when he saw their faces, he said, “I don’t want to fight. So many people will be killed. Their wives will become widows and their children will become orphans… I don’t want to do this.” Then he said,
Shishyasteham shadhi mam tvam prapannam. Gita, 2/7
“I am your disciple. You are my Guru, and I am surrendered to You.” So Shri Krishna said, “Do you know the meaning of the word ‘disciple’? A disciple doesn’t have the right to apply his intellect. Whatever the Guru says, he immediately accepts.”
Just see in the world that when a child learns the alphabet, the teacher says, “This is ‘K’. You write it like this. Alright, everyone take your pencils and write this.” One student asks, “Why is it called ‘K’? Why do we write it like that?” No one had ever asked the teacher these questions. In the English language there are so many silent letters. “If we don’t pronounce them, why do we have to write them?” You must write them, even though they are silent. “We don’t have these in Hindi!” “Well, you may not, but we have them in English.” Those who studied English didn’t argue about this, and consequently they became experts.
Generally speaking, we believe what we are told. The news comes on the TV that the prime minister of a country was murdered. Fifteen minutes later another report says the earlier news was wrong and he didn’t die. We believe everything we hear. We never doubt it. A report comes in the newspaper. We believe it. The next day another report completely refutes the first report. We accept this.
Yet the Saints and all the scriptures have declared uncountable times, and even we have declared, that God is bliss – but we have no faith in this. If due to our good fortune we had the association of a true Saint and through him we understood spiritual philosophy and developed this faith, then without doing anything else, if we became like an innocent child, shed tears and purified our mind, we could attain God realisation and supreme divine bliss.
In other words, we have to divert our desires. The direction you are driving in is not the way to your home. Just turn your car to the west and change the direction. Your driving will be the same, whether you are going that way or this way. There’s no difference.
You love your mother and father and all your loved ones. Why? You have the hope that you will receive happiness from them. Now apply this hope to God and love Him. You won’t find happiness here; you will over there. Here there are so many rules; there are no rules over there. You can love God as your husband. A minute later you can love Him as your son. A minute after that you can love Him as your friend. He is ready to become everything for you.
A person wants a father. His own father died when he was a child. He wonders, “How will I celebrate Fathers Day?” Someone’s mother died when he was child. Someone else doesn’t have a sister, “Who will tie a rakhi on me? I’ll have to make someone my sister.” We want all these separately in the world. But God says, “I am everything. Regard Me as all of these. I ready to become all of them for you.” How much grace!
He also resides in your heart. People make pilgrimages to places like Vrindaban or Badrinarayan. The God they are seeking is already seated in their hearts, but they don’t look there.
Antastham mam parityajya bahishtham yastu sevatey.
Chavaldarshinopanishad, 4/58. God says, “Oh, souls, I dwell within you. You are leaving Me and searching for Me in stone deities. To find me there, you will have to go through the effort of imbuing that deity with divine feelings. Yet it is a fact that I am already here with you seated in your heart!”
Hastastapinda mutsrijya lihatey kurmarmatmanaha.
This is like someone who has a sweetball in his hand but he is not eating it. Will he fill his stomach this way? God has bestowed so much grace on us. “There are no rules for loving me. You can do it in the morning afternoon or evening. You can take a bath beforehand or not. However you are is fine. Serve Me with whatever you wish. Dress Me as you desire. Refer to Me by any name you like. I am ready to accept everything.”
The majority of the true Saints of India were illiterate. They had no desire to engage in spiritual debate. They had no doubts. A priest gave a stone to Saint Dhanna Jatt and said to him, “This is God. Serve Him food every day.”
Dhanna Jatt thought, “Oh, this is God!” He took the stone home and placed a piece of bread before it and said, “Lord, please eat. The priest said to feed you. Why aren’t you eating? Are you angry? I took you from the priest’s house. You must be missing him. Alright, then I won’t eat either.” Six days passed. Now Dhanna Jatt started to feel faint. Shri Krishna was defeated by his faith and had to appear. Simply through unbreakable faith he attained God realisation.
To make our faith firm, there are many devotional practices. Above all, we have to remove the confusion of the mind. In uncountable lifetimes we firmly decided, “Happiness is in the world.” Now we have to practice reversing this decision to the divine side. Shri Krishna referred to this as ‘abhyas’, practice. So, there is just one philosophy for accomplishing everything: divert your material desires into divine desires.
© Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat and Bhakti Bliss, 2009-2010
