Whatever an enlightened being does, even if he kills someone, it will only do that person good. This is because an enlightened being is established in the space of completion driven by cosmic consciousness. Therefore it will always be good for everyone. However, whatever an unenlightened man does, even if he does great service, it may or may not do good to him and society. Good or bad is not decided by *doing.* It is decided by the *being*! When an enlightened man acts, even small things lead to great results in the world. When an unenlightened person acts, even great truths may lead to misery and destruction at times.

Think about the simple words uttered by Buddha, 'Watch your breath, witness your inhaling and exhaling.' Buddha discovered this simple truth through which thousands of people became enlightened. Yet, when an unenlightened person discovers a great truth, it leads to destruction. For example, the atomic theory is a great truth. Yet, when it comes from an unenlightened mind, it leads to destruction.

A statistical report in a magazine claims that the governments of all the countries in the world have enough atomic weapons to destroy the planet Earth over a thousand times. They have piled up enough atomic weapons to destroy the earth not once or twice but over a 1000 times! This is the result of one unenlightened mind.

Listen. Deeds or words by themselves don't do good or bad. They do good or bad based upon the consciousness from which they are expressed. This consciousness, this awareness is related to the *feeling* one has for others. The quality of our awareness decides whether the end result benefits or destroys humanity.

Only after a spiritual experience do we feel gratitude at the *being* level. If it is our solid experience that every living being is God, we radiate love and our being becomes love. *Bhakti* and love are expressions that flow from that spiritual experience.

Kṛṣṇa's discourse on *Bhakti Yogaḥ* starts after *Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ.* After the experience of completion, He talks about the expression of enriching, *Bhakti Yogaḥ.* He talks about the expression of devotional love.

## Who Is Perfect?

*12.1 Arjuna asks, 'Who are considered perfect, those who are always engaged sincerely in Your worship in form, or those who worship the imperishable, the unmanifest formless You?'*

Arjuna now speaks in a totally different manner. His thought trend is different now. He asks, 'Which of these two types of people are considered to be better: those who are always engaged in your *bhakti*, devotional love towards you or those who merge in the *Brahman,* the unmanifest, formless, Cosmic consciousness?'

#### *arjuna uvāca*

*evaṁ satata yuktā ye bhaktās tvāṁ paryupāsate I
ye cāpy akṣaram avyaktaṁ teṣāṁ ke yoga-vittamāḥ II 12.1*

Please be clear, Arjuna is not asking for himself. From here, the discourse becomes a simple discussion. It is more like trying to record the truth for future generations.

The questions from here onward are neither doubts nor enquiries. Arjuna tries to put the whole thing down in the expression form, so that it will be a useful reference for future generations. A flow of Arjuna's love for humanity, an expression of his divine experience, prompts him to seek answers to these vexing questions and record the answers from the godhead Himself.

Arjuna asks, 'Who will be established in You totally? Will it be a devotee or a person who is enlightened?'

Religious people or so-called religious people, confuse others with this verse about Arjuna's question as to whether worshipping the form or worshipping the formless is right. These people are so confused that they do not know right from wrong. They use their intellectual arrogance and misunderstanding to confuse others. Let me tell you, this is not what Arjuna meant by asking this question. If we look at Kṛṣṇa's answers, we will understand.

### **Experience Or Expression? Completion Or Enriching?**

Arjuna asks, 'Is it good to be established in the experience of the Divine consciousness, just to stay in it and enjoy the eternal bliss that flows from that experience? Or is it better to express that love and gratitude created by the conscious experience towards the whole world and every living being? Which is correct? Which one is preferred?'

See, when we have a spiritual experience, some people stay in that experience with closed eyes, that's all. Only with eyes closed can they see God. They do not seek to use their senses, since the bliss within is so great and beautiful that absolutely no sensory input remotely matches that bliss. However, there are others who are impelled to open their eyes, by the Universe to communicate that blissful experience through their expression to enrich others.

The so-called scholars enter into endless debates on *savikalpa samādhi* and *nirvikalpa samādhi*. *Savikalpa samādhi* is the state where the experience of *samādhi* continues. *Nirvikalpa samādhi* is when the expression of *samādhi* starts. *Savikalpa samādhi* is supposed to be a lower state, and one is supposed to work towards the second and higher state of *nirvikalpa samādhi*. But it is not an ironclad rule.

In my case, both happened together. I did not go through two stages. I went through just one and reached the state where the experience was allowed to be expressed. It was the will of the Divine, *Parāśakti.* Please understand that this is not a choice that people make. An option is not presented to those who have such experiences. Those who experience the Divine transcend that point of freewill. They are driven wholly, in each step that they take, by *Parāśakti*, the Universal energy; by Kṛṣṇa, the Super-conscious Divine.

Arjuna understands that he and others who have had an experience of the Divine, face the choicelessness. He knows that Kṛṣṇa decides what he should do. Yet, he asks because he wants everyone to understand. Arjuna asks, 'What type of a person is greater? Is it a person who closes his eyes and sees God within himself or a person who opens his eyes and sees God in every being? Who is greater?'

Please understand, he is not asking whether worshiping the form or worshiping the formless is greater. Yet so-called religious people have interpreted it that way, and created problems between the teachings of the great masters, Ādī Śaṅkarācārya and Rāmānuja.

Śaṅkara followed *jñāna,* the path of knowledge, and Rāmānuja followed *bhakti,* the path of devotion. *Jñāna,* focuses on the formless through intellectual queries. *Bhakti* focuses on the form, sheer devotion, as if the Divine were alive as It indeed is! However, those who have studied Śaṅkara and Rāmānuja in depth know that there was much devotion in Śaṅkara's approach and much knowledge in Rāmānuja's approach! Both approaches converge. One without the other never works.

**Expressing the gratitude that happens because of the experience is devotion. Having that experience and rejoicing, staying in that experience is knowledge; that's all.**

Kṛṣṇa's answer is that both paths are the same. The paths are intertwined. The first one leads to the second one and the second one leads back to first one. We have heard the term vicious circle. First one leads to the second and the second one leads back to the first one.

Now, I want to introduce another word, 'virtuous circle.' Vicious circle leads to low energy or lower level of consciousness. Virtuous circle leads to high energy, a higher level of consciousness! Bliss leading to devotion and gratitude, devotion and gratitude leading to bliss: these two form the virtuous circle that lead us to higher consciousness.

Bliss means the experience of completion that leads us to the expression of gratitude and enriching. Again, the expression, the gratitude of enriching, leads us to bliss, and bliss leads us to deeper completion. One leads to the other and therefore it is a virtuous circle.

Usually we are caught in the vicious circle. Fear leads to greed and greed leads to fear. More fear leads to more greed, and more greed leads to more fear. This is the vicious circle. Here Kṛṣṇa introduces the virtuous circle. Virtuous circle is what He calls *dharma*, righteousness, that which must be followed in the path of truth.

*Dharma* **means virtuous circle, that which leads us to live and express higher and higher levels of Consciousness.** That in turn leads us to higher and higher levels of blissful experience. Consciousness and bliss lead to expression of that consciousness and bliss, which in turn lead to higher level experiences.

## Fix Your Mind On Me

#### *12.2 Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says,*

*Those who fix their mind on Me eternally and those who are steadfast in worshipping Me with supreme faith, I consider them to be perfect in yoga, ready to be united with Me.*

Bhagavān says, 'Those who are established in their consciousness that expresses devotional gratitude, *bhakti*, are always engaged in Me. Those who focus on the transcendental faith, meaning the experience that they undergo at the time of Cosmic experience, they are engaged in Me. Both are ultimate. Both are united in Me.

Saṃskṛit is a beautiful language. We can make any meaning out of any word. That is why thousands of commentaries on the Gītā are possible, yet the Gītā is still new. No book has been commented upon by so many masters, as much as the Gītā has been. Each master gives his own meaning. Again, I insist that if a person who has not had a spiritual experience starts expressing, lecturing, he will naturally be in trouble and create trouble for others as well. In the same way that the blind leads the blind, both end up in trouble. A person without any spiritual experience, when he translates or talks, he automatically does only 'text torturing.'

#### **Real Completion Expresses as Enriching with Love**

Understand this small example: Let us say I draw a diagram and explain the concept of an experience that I have had to you. Later, you present only an audio CD of this session to a friend who did not attend this lecture. You have not had the experience; you merely translate my experience. How much can you explain? He will not be able to grasp much. He will miss my body language completely. You can-

not explain accurately either, because you are not the one who had the experience. A person who just has the audio recording or a book copy, cannot understand much. Like that, *Bhagavad Gītā* is a transcription of the audio recording. Even the voice modulation is not there. How much can you translate or interpret?

That is why Vivekananda emphasized, again and again, not to read or listen to anything expressed by a person who has not personally experienced the truth. Most importantly, he said, 'Bother about who is speaking, rather than what he is speaking.' He emphasized the personal experience. He added, 'All the books in the libraries in this world cannot lead you to the truth. Once you have realized the truth, you do not need books.' Spiritual experience transcends mind and ego. It is pure, uncolored and permanent. By expressing an understanding of someone's experience, one may express a fact or an opinion at best, but never the truth. Truth must be experienced to be expressed.

Here Bhagavān says,

*mayyāveśya mano ye māṁ nitya yuktā upāsate I
śraddhayā parayopetās te me yuktatamā matāḥ II 12.2*

Those who express their experience as devotion, see the world, *upāsate*. The word *upāssana* can be translated in many ways. When we see the Divine in everybody, when we express the truth of the spiritual experience, whatever we do is *upāssana*. Please be very clear, when we can't see the Divine in people around us, we can't see the Divine in any statue or any Master either. If we don't see the Divine in living beings, we cannot see the Divine in a God or a Guru.

If it were not for the great master Rāmānuja, South Bharat would have completely lost its spirituality. Śankara settled in the north even though he was born and brought up in the south. He spent most of his time in North Bharat. Because of Rāmānuja, devotion and spirituality thrived in South Bharat. Until his end, Rāmānuja stayed in South Bharat. Not only that, Śankara lived only until the age of thirty-two. Rāmānuja lived on planet Earth for a long time and inspired thousands of people in the path of spirituality and meditation.

> One young man asked Rāmānuja, 'Master, please tell me how I can achieve *bhakti,* achieve God, achieve devotion?'

> Rāmānuja asked him, 'Have you ever loved anybody in your life?' This man was shaken. He said, 'I am a pure *brahmacāri,* a celibate. How can you ask me this question? I came to learn about God and you ask me this question?'

> Rāmānuja says, 'First go and love somebody. See how you feel when you love somebody. Then come back and I will teach you about God. I will teach you about *bhakti,* devotional love.'

This man was naturally taken aback. He could not understand Rāmānuja. Understand, unless we love the person whom we can see, how will we love an entity that we have never seen? If we can't love human beings whom we see everyday, how can we love the form of God whom we have never seen? What Rāmānuja says is true. We should also understand that unless we radiate love in the space where we stay, we can't love the whole world.

Again and again I tell people, loving the whole world is easy. Loving your wife is difficult. Loving the whole world is easy because we don't need to do anything to substantiate it! All we must do is to say, 'I love the whole world.' But when we love our wife, we must change our inner space to that of completion. We must change our mind, our words, our feeling and our very living. We must bring integrity to our words. We must bring authenticity to our thinking and our actions; responsibility in our feeling, and enriching in our living. There starts the problem!

**Listen! You need to know that relationships are not something external.** It is an expression of yourself, how *you* feel about you. The relationship you carry with *you* is projected as the relationship with the *world*! I tell you, when you bring integrity in your relationship with others, honoring the words you gave or completing the words you gave, the way others look at *you* will be transformed immediately.

To truly love and enrich someone whom we spend our life with, to prevent familiarity from breeding contempt, we need to complete with others and our self, and drop our 'I' and 'mine'. As long as we consider our spouse as a possession, what arises in our mind and heart is violence, not love. We will feel we must control the other being and we will feel we must prove that we are the owner. To even comprehend the meaning of true love, we need to drop the feeling that we possess.


Mahābhārat is a book where the personification of each quality appears as one character. You live so many different experiences in your life. You carry so many parts—one part of you is integrity, one part of you is authenticity, another part is responsibility and some part of you is enriching. One part of you is self-doubt, some part of you is self-hatred and another self-denial. One part of you is knowledge, one part of you is compassion, one part of you is violence, one part of you is cunningness, and one part of you is penance (tapas), one part of you is the pure silence. *When all these parts are fully awakened in you, you are full bloomed, then you are Kṛṣṇa!*

**The celebration of life is Śrī Kṛṣṇa. He is the purnāvatar, the most powerful and complete Incarnation, the embodiment of pure love and compassion. Śrī** Kṛṣṇa is the personification beyond any personality who never gives up on people, even those who are hypocrites and *adhārmic*! He can simply enter into any multi-layered personality and joyfully play to handle them as they are.

If you understand the Mahābharāt, you will understand the complexity of personalities or the complexity of you. You will never have hatred or denial to some part of you or towards some part of others. You

#### will understand how to handle the whole life as it is.

Pañca Pāṇḍavas or the five sons of King Pānḍu are the embodiment of the great powers that come from the four *tattvas* of life.

- Yudhiṣṭra is embodiment of Integrity—the power of words, *vāk śakti.*
- Bhīma is embodiment of Authenticity—the power of thoughts, *mano śakti.*
- Arjuna is embodiment of Responsibility—the power of feeling, *prema śakti.*
- Sahadeva is embodiment of Enriching—the power of living, *ātma śakti.*
- Nakula is embodiment of causing reality for others.

Kuntī is the mother of Pañca Pāṇḍavas, she is the embodiment of *tapas,* penance. *Tapaḥ* aligns with the different powers of Nature and gives birth to integrity, authenticity, responsibility and enriching. Kuntī connects with the power of nature—Sūrya (son god), Yama Dharma (god of time, justice), Vāyu (wind god), Indra (king of gods) and Aśvini Kumaras (divine physicians of gods) and gives birth to Pāṇḍavas.

*Listen, Yudhiṣṭra is Integrity!* Integrity is born from Kāla, Yama Dharma, the lord of time, righteousness. Who is the most integrated being in the Cosmos? Yama Dharma! As the son of time, Yudhiṣṭra never misses time and is integrated to *dharma*. That is why Yudhiṣṭra, also glorified as Dharmarajā, the king of *dharma*, is the embodiment of integrity.

*Next, Bhīma is the embodiment of authenticity.* He is the physiology of peak possibility! Most authentic being is Vāyu, the wind energy! Bhīma is the son of Vāyu, authenticity. His whole life is an ideal of constantly expanding with strength of authenticity without any tiredness or powerlessness.

*Arjuna is the embodiment of responsibility, the space of leadership!* Indra, the king of the gods is the most responsible person in the universe. So, Arjuna is the son of responsibility. Arjuna is also Nara, who embodies the responsibility of *Nārāyaṇa* Himself! The tradition says that Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna are incarnations of *Nara-Nārāyaṇa*, meaning they are the same energy that expresses as *Paramatmā* and *Jīvatmā—*super consciousness and its reflection on body. In Vaiśnava tradition, Viṣṇu expresses himself as *Nārāyaṇa* and *Nara*. In Śaiva tradition, we call them as *Paśupati*; pure soul and the soul that reflects on the body. The pure soul is *Pati* and the reflection of the soul on the body is *Paśu*. Pure soul is *Nārāyaṇa* and the soul that reflects on the body is *Nara*. So, *Nara* Arjuna is just the very own reflection of *Nārāyaṇa*.

*Nakula and Sahadeva, the Aśvini Kumāras are the most enriching beings, the greatest doctors.* Understand, doctor's profession is the best enriching profession. They are sons of the greatest healers who are the greatest enrichers! Even when the enemy, Duryodhana comes to Sahadeva, he blesses him saying, 'You start the war on this day, you will be successful!' That level of enriching! Enriching even the enemy! Nakula went on being a catalyst for everyone to realize the reality for others. He is such an amazing support for Yudhiṣṭra, Arjuna, Bhīma and Sahadeva, for everyone.

*All these five Pāṇḍavas won the game of life only when they listened to their Guru, Śrī Kṛṣṇa.* Otherwise, at uncountable times the Pānḍavas were in the jaws of death and would have been killed or died! It is their association with the Guru, the *satsang*—association with Truth that saves them again and again! I tell you, whoever you may become, never miss the association of a living Guru.

Understand, Māhabhārat is actually your life. It is nothing but the story of all incompletions. Your body is the earthly kingdom that is attacked by your incompletions—the root patterns of self-doubt, self-hatred and self-denial that weigh you down, and forbid the *tattvas* to manifest as your great powers.

#### In the warfield of your life, stand the Kauravas—Dhritarāṣṭra, Śakuni and Duryodhana along with Bhīsma (the great grandfather) and Karṇa (the eldest of Pāṇḍavas). Dhritarāṣṭra is the self-doubt in you. Duryodhana is the self-denial in you. Śakuni is the self-hatred in you. Karṇa is the charity and compassion in you. Bhīsma is the *dharma* in you, the undying righteousness. But because of the wrong association with self-denial, both your charity and righteousness turn powerless and give up their pure inner space.

Self-doubt, Dhritarāṣṭra joins with self-destruction, Gāndhāri and gives birth to self-denial patterns—the Kauravas: Duryodhana and his brothers. Self-denial is born from self-doubt and assisted by self-hatred, Śakuni. Self-doubt is blind like Dhritarāṣṭra; self-hatred is cunning like Śakuni; self-denial is stupid like Duryodhana.

Understand, let me explain the roots of all root-patterns *self-doubt, self-hatred and self-denial.* These are the most powerful patterns that make you powerless.

Look in!

The thought of what you really want from life is enough to put you in depression. Because, when you think about something you really want to achieve, self-doubt is the first and foremost pattern that comes up in you. The pattern of doubting—'*Will I get it? Will I be able to make it? Do I deserve it?'* The whole of Dhritarāṣṭra's life is this root-pattern of self-doubt. You can see all his actions and reactions are out of this one root-pattern.

Second, self-hatred happens because of the incompletions of earlier failures. You cunningly cheat yourself saying, '*Earlier I tried this same thing ten times, but it failed miserably! Now how is it going to be successful? I will fail again*! ' The whole of Śakuni's life and his actions are, '*I will not make it!*'—the root-pattern of self-hatred!

This self-hatred immediately makes self-denial erupt out! You just give a life-sentence to you saying, '*No! I cannot make it*!' This deep self-denial pattern erupting out is end of life! If you see the whole life of Duryodhana, it is a deep, painful reaction of his stupid conviction that he is a failure and he cannot make it. So, constantly he has to prove himself only by destroying others, never by creating on his own reality.

When all these three root-patterns of self-doubt, self-hatred and self-denial gather together, what happens? That is what happens to the Kauravas. Don't allow what happened to the Kauravas happen to you!

Understand, your body is the kingdom which integrity, Yudhiṣṭra inherits. Integrity should be the *yuvarāja* (crown prince) ruling you. But self-denial or Duryodhana tries every possible way to destroy integrity (Yudhiṣṭra), authenticity (Bhīma), responsibility (Arjuna) and enriching (Nakula and Sahadeva). But, the power of the Guru, Śrī Kṛṣṇa again and again protects integrity, authenticity, responsibility and enriching.

When you start the war of your life, integrity (Yudhiṣṭra) never looks like he is going to win the war with self-denial patterns (Duryodhana). But, when you complete with these root-patterns, you cause what you want as reality in your life. You rewrite your future!

 You will see that finally it is only Dharmarāja Yudhiṣṭra who is coronated as the king of kings and rules over extraordinary opulence and vast abundance with his brothers! I tell you, even if you have thousands of self-doubts about integrity and authenticity, stand with these Truths. Then, Guru's grace will always be with you. Kṛṣṇa's grace is always with the Pāṇḍavas because they embody the pure qualities of *tattvas.*

All Incarnations land on planet Earth just to tell you this one Truth: your self-denial, self-hatred, self-doubt patterns are not truth or fact. That's all! You are more than what you believe as you; because what you believe as you is framed by your root-patterns. No one can take away what you want from your life.

The great hope, the great news, which is the Truth is—you are not an ordinary being as you perceive yourself to be because of your root-patterns. Complete all these three root-patterns with the power of the four *tattvas* and rewrite your future as you want to create it!

**This is the essence of the** *Bhagavad Gītā* **and the four** *tattvas.*

Carry integrity, authenticity, responsibility and enriching; you will always have the Guru's grace on you. When Guru is on your side, you can win any war of life and create the ultimate reality of your life. When you carry the inner space of Pāṇḍavas in your very being and live the four *tattvas* sincerely, you will always have the grace, protection and powers of Śrī Kṛṣṇa!

When you surrender to the master of Masters, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, what you lack will be showered on you and what you have will be protected for you—*yoga-kṣema vahāmy ahaṁ* (9.22)!

#### Sastras, Stotras, Sutras _ _

Life will always be a mix of the Good and the bad, the Divine and the evil. Choosing one over the other does not enrich. We need to complete and go beyond both!

# Beyond Scriptures

There are millions of scriptures and books on planet Earth. From time immemorial, human beings have created scriptures and still continue to create spiritual books. But *Bhagavad Gītā* is incomparable. Unlike any other, this book has penetrated human consciousness so deeply. No other book has contributed to the preparation of so many Enlightened Beings on planet Earth. *Bhagavad Gītā* is the unabridged dictionary and encyclopedia of spirituality.

Spiritual literature can be classified into three categories. First we have *śāstras*: *Sāstras* give us clarity about the goal of human life. They give intellectual understanding about the ultimate truth of man and God.

*Śāstras* are the scriptures which guide us to have the right cognitions of life. They logically and intellectually answer all major questions so that we can be logically convinced to follow the ultimate path. There are many examples. The *śṛutis* and *smṛtis* of *sanātana-hindu-dharma*, the sacred scriptures such as the *Vedas* and *Upaniṣads*, the guidelines such as the *Manusmṛti* and *Itihās*, and the great epics, historical happenings such as *Rāmāyaṇa*, *Mahābhārat*, are *śāstras*.

The second category of literature is *stotra*. It is the expression of someone who has realized the ultimate Truth; who has had the glimpse of divine love. When such a person expresses his joy, the expression is *stotras*, devotional compositions.

**The literature from the heart is** *stotras***; literature from the head is** *śastras***. The third type of literature, called** *sūtras***, gives us techniques to realize the state of uniting with the Divine***.*

*Śāstras* give us intellectual understanding, *stotras* give emotional feeling connection, *Sūtras* give the being level experience. *Śāstras* are like signboards, intellectual scriptures that explain the basics of life. They alone cannot lead us to enlightenment; although they can take us to an Enlightened Master. *Stotras* enrich us to surrender to the Divine. The glory of the Divine is expounded on by the *stotras*. *Sūtras* give us techniques to achieve devotion or Enlightenment.

*Stotras* are spoken from the level of emotion, feeling. *Sūtras* mean the technique that helps us achieve the goal of the *śāstras* and the *stotras*.

People who are intellectually oriented, need *śāstras*—intellectual scriptures. They do not do anything unless they are intellectually convinced. We cannot say that because of this attitude, they should not seek spirituality, the path of living the highest potential and expanding with peak possibility. Listen, we should look at man with more compassion. We can't put faith as the main criterion to enter into spirituality, then we are refusing spirituality to almost 90% of humanity. We should create a system through which we can reach and enrich every individual with the science of completion and creation.

Our *Vedic* seers created *śāstras*—the absolute science of living in completion while creating our peak possibility. They logically taught us the path and the goal—*why* we are asked to do *what* we do, why we need spirituality in our day-to-day living. All these major questions are proven logically in *śastras* and the conclusions are given. Understand, *śāstras* completely take away our doubts. Doubt is a devil. Once a doubt enters our mind in the form of self-doubt, self-hatred and self-denial, we can't sleep, we can't rest until we clear and complete with it. *Śāstras* help us get rid of these doubts intellectually, scientifically!

Unless we have complete intellectual clarity, complete cognition, our belief will be a pseudo belief; anyone can shake our faith as it will be rooted in self-doubt. Our cognition is not complete cognition till the *śāstras* of integrity, authenticity, responsibility and enriching become the basis of our cognition. Till then our cognitions are nothing but confusions, self-doubts. Our faith does not have a strong base, it is like a building without a foundation. It will collapse. The same will happen to us if we don't have the base of *śāstras*.

A person asked the great Master Vivekananda, 'Master, what is the importance of *Vedas* and why should we study the scriptures?' Vivekananda said, 'If you study the scriptures, all your faith and sincerity will become so strong that nobody will be able to shake you.' Otherwise, any fool can tell us that what we are doing is superstitious and we can start thinking, 'Am I really doing superstitious things? Am I really following the right path?' We will start having doubts about ourselves.


We may think we believe in something; but our faith or belief is not deep enough, not authentic enough. We are not integrated to our words, and we are not authentic to our thinking and actions. Unless we have the deep foundation of *śāstras*, not only we will not be able to believe in anything, we will be doubting and hating our very own self! We will not be authentic and integrated to the truth.

Understand, even our emotions are not so deep. We think we have love, we think we believe. I see all kinds of people who say they believe in what they think. One man said, 'Oh Master, I love the whole world.' We can always say *Vasudaiva Kuṭuṃbakaṁ*—the world is my family. Again and again, I tell people that to love the world is easy, but to love your wife is very difficult! The problem is that we are not in tune with our own family. This is because we don't have the right cognition of completion, without which our faith can be shaken by anybody. *Śāstras*, the science of Living Enlightenment, gives a powerful base of the *'great why of life'* so that all our cognitions, all our faith can enter into our being and start creating our possibilities.

#### **Devotion is Authenticity with God**

*Bhakti*, devotion, is just an alchemy process. It is as if a touchstone has touched us. Rāmakṛṣṇa says beautifully, 'If a touchstone touches any metal it becomes gold; just a touch of the stone is enough for any metal to be converted into gold.'

Devotion is a touchstone. The moment devotion touches us, we become God, we become Divine. The problem is, we never allow devotion to touch us; we never allow devotion to penetrate our being. We think we want God, but we are continuously afraid of the Divine. We may think we want the Divine, but as long as it is superficial, as long as it is under our control, things go well. The moment the devotion enters our being, and starts the process, we say, 'No, no, not that much. I think that is too much for me!' We stop at a certain point.

A small story:

A guy lived as an atheist. One day he fell from a cliff and was hanging on to a small branch. Slowly, the branch also started giving way.

The man started shouting, 'Oh God! I never believed in you, but now I do. Please save me!'

A booming voice from heaven said, 'Oh my son, don't worry. I will save you. Just let go of the branch and I will save you.'

Immediately the man responded, 'Is there anybody else out there who can save me?'

Our faith is just an inauthentic show. Until we have an intellectual conviction about life, God is just one more choice; just one more shop like Walmart; it is Spiritual mart. This is our relationship with God. We remember God only when we need something. When things go well according to our chosen route, then God is great, else throw away the God.

Our faith is pseudo if it is not life transforming. We do not allow devotion to work on us. *Śāstras* give us that intellectual clarity, that completion cognition. All the great devotional people like Caitanya, Rāmānuja and Mādhva had a strong intellectual base of this science. Caitanya Mahāprabhu was a great *Nyayaika* philosopher of logic. It is only when you reach the peak of logic, can you fall into the valley of love; only then you are qualified to fall in love. All great Masters and devotees who reach the peak of intellect have a strong *śāstras* base.

**Next are the** *stotras. Stotra* **means expressing our experience, our**

**deep love or devotion to our Master or God.** Many people ask, 'Swamiji, why does Hinduism have idol worship?' Listen. Hinduism does not have idol worship. We don't worship the idol; we worship through the idol. When we stand in front of the idol, do we say, 'Oh stone! Give me a boon. Oh stone! Please save me?' No! We say, 'Oh God, please save me.' We don't worship the idol; we worship through the idol. So we are not doing idol worship. In *Vaiśnavism*, the devotional stream of Hinduism, there is a beautiful word *Arcāvatār*. This means the idol worshipped in the temple is the Incarnation of God, it is not just a stone.

**Incarnation means the Divine descending on planet Earth, just like the ten Incarnations of Viṣṇu. All these idols are like these ten Incarnations. Just like these Incarnations, the stone, the idol that we worship to relate with God is called** *Arcāvatār.*

When we stand in front of the idol and pour our heart out through verses, this enriching expression is what is *stotras*. All the songs written by great devotees like the Alvars, Nayanmars, Mīrā and Caitanya, are *stotras*. People ask me, '*Swamiji,* sometimes I don't feel like chanting these *stotras*. Should I do it mechanically even if I don't like doing it?' I say, 'Do it with integrity and authenticity. You may feel it is a mechanical exercise for one or two days. But, it will become your being once you start enjoying the meaning and experiencing what you express. It will become your feeling that enriches you deeply.' The reason I allow these *stotras* to be chanted is this—I can see thousands of people, when they have feeling connection with the Divine, they flower and become enlightened. So, when you express your heart, it becomes *stotra*.

Understand, in *Vedic* tradition, even God is a stepping-stone for Enlightenment. All the forms and names of the Gods, everything is used for attaining Enlightenment, for *nirvikalpa samādhi,* for *living advaita*. When the devotion, the feeling connection is awakened in you, you automatically go towards enlightenment.

**Next are the** *sūtras***.** *Sūtras* give us the technique to reach enlightenment. *Sāstras* are from the intellectual level. *Stotras* are from the emotional level. *Sūtras* are from the being level.

**Please understand, learning** *śāstras* **means bringing integrity and authenticity to our mind. Going around and practicing** *śāstras i***s living authenticity and being responsible. Being in integrity with the Master or God is feeling connection and being enriched with Enlightenment.**

When integrity comes through the *head*, it is intellect, *śāstra*. When it comes through your *heart,* it is *stotra*. When it comes through your *being,* it is *sūtra*.

When authenticity expresses through our *head*, it is power of *śāstra*, the knowledge weapons to fight our patterns, our dilemmas. When authenticity expresses through our *heart,* it is love, *stotra*. When authenticity expresses through our *being*, it is meditation, *sūtra*.

Listen. There are three kinds of human beings: head oriented, heart oriented and being oriented. To fulfill everyone, our enlightened sages have created three kinds of literature—*śāstras*, *stotras* and *sūtras*. *Bhagavad Gītā* is the only book that is a combination of *śāstras*, *stotras* and *sūtras*, with something more!

*Gītā is śāstra;* it gives a clear intellectual understanding about life, death, soul, about the '*great why of life*' as well as the '*what of life*,' the do's and don'ts, rules and regulations. Very few books give reasons *why* we should or should not do something. *Gītā* is the only book I know that gives a strong intellectual base, intellectual clarity, a complete cognition about *why* and *what* we should do.

No other religion has as many scriptures as Hinduism. Within the Vedic literature, our Masters have chosen three books called *prasthāntraya* that are the ultimate authorities in spirituality. They are *Brahma Sūtra*, *Upaniṣads* and *Bhagavad Gītā*. Veda Vyāsa, the lord of Enlightened Masters, is the compiler of all the *Vedas*, who wrote the *Brahma Sutra* and also authored the *Mahābhārat*. He is responsible for all the methods and expressions of enlightenment science or *jīvan muktī vijñāna*. Many enlightened Masters taught what is known as *Upaniṣad.* However, *Gītā* is directly from *Bhagavān*, God Himself, from a *Pūrṇāvatār*—a perfect, complete Incarnation, Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

#### **KṚṢṆa, the PūrṆāvatār**

Among the Incarnations, Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa is considered *pūrṇa*, complete, a full Incarnation. Why is Śrī Kṛṣṇa considered the only perfect, complete Incarnation, a pūrṇāvatār? Why can't He be just one more Incarnation? Still He is the one being ruling the whole Hindu consciousness and the largest worshipped being! The most worshipped Incarnation on planet Earth is Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Only Kṛṣṇa can be called the most worshipped being.

First, let us understand why Incarnations come to planet Earth. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa Paramahamsa recounts beautifully:

There was a beautiful paradise with many trees and varieties of flowers and fruits. Three friends were walking near this paradise that had a big wall around it. One of them climbed the wall and peeped inside.

> He cried out, 'Oh, my God! Such a beautiful place!' He jumped into the garden and started enjoying the fruits. The second man climbed the wall and saw the garden. He too felt it was beautiful, but he had a little bit of courtesy.

> He turned and said to the third man who was below, 'Dear friend, there is a beautiful paradise below. Come, I am going in.' Saying this, he jumped over the wall and started enjoying the fruits.

> The third man climbed the wall and saw the paradise. He saw his two friends and understood the level of joy and bliss that they were enjoying.

> Then he said to himself, 'Let me go down and tell all the people about this beautiful paradise. I will bring them all to enjoy this garden.'

An Incarnation is someone who descends to enrich the world about the blissful place that He experienced. The man who descends from Divine to express the bliss of that Divinity is an Incarnation. The person who returns to planet Earth to tell you and enrich you about Divinity and to also make you realize what He has experienced, is an Incarnation.

An enlightened spiritual Master is a person who creates a formula to reproduce his inner world experiences. Scientists create formulae for the outer world, whereas a Master creates a formula to recreate the experience of the inner world. Meditation techniques are these formulae.

**An Incarnation is a person who can directly give the experience** *without* **even using the formula!** All these great Incarnations come down to planet Earth to make people realize that—they too are Divine, that they too are God; to tell and enrich people that the other side is beautiful. 'There's a very big paradise. Come, let us go and enjoy. Come, join me,' they say.

Why is Kṛṣṇa a perfect Incarnation? He has all the qualities needed to push human beings to divinity, to the space of completion. It is Śrī Kṛṣṇa who is responsible for all the good things we have in our lives. Please understand, it is Kṛṣṇa who is responsible for anything good, anything joyful, and anything auspicious in our lives. The science of living life out of completion and joy—living life out of completion will lead to enlightenment in whatever we are doing without renouncing—this science is introduced to the world for the first time by Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

**Understand, till Śrī Kṛṣṇa all Incarnations were teaching only the science of leaving, renouncing the world if one wanted Enlightenment. But it is Śrī Kṛṣṇa who gave this science of living in the space of completion,** *pūrṇatva***; that you don't need to renounce anything; wherever you are, you will be radiating life and enjoying life.**

The person who can push human beings to divinity, to the space of completion is called *Jagadguru—*the Guru who awakens. He is the teacher, the Master of the whole Universe.

*Jagadguru* is a person who can enrich the whole world, all types of human beings at all levels. The Universe is a place with all types of human beings who are at all levels of experience and maturity. Kṛṣṇa can enrich and help people from all levels to experience divinity, to reach the ultimate, to realize the truth, to be complete.

The life of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, *pūrṇāvatār* is an example of living in the space of completion, *pūrṇatva*. He has not done anything out of incompletion. He has done everything out of completion and He has done everything, which we think will be done only out of incompletion!

This science of completion is the most sacred secret revealed by Śrī Kṛṣṇa in the *Bhagavad Gītā*, which is the most powerful *rājavidyā rājaguhyaṃ*, royal sacred knowledge and royal sacred secret. This royal sacred science of completion keeps us eternally in love with life, eternally experiencing life.

Please understand, some religions teach what completion *is*; some religions show us what completion *is not,* some religions show us the effect of incompletion. **This science of completion is the essence of all religions, the essence of vedic knowledge, the source of the knowledge of Vedic tradition.**

Let me define Completion.

**Completion means living and acting without any hangover of the past incidents, words, actions or memories. Not having a hangover does not mean that you will not remember your past at all. When you are in completion, you will remember past incidents and actions, but they will no longer have the power to cause pain or anger or guilt in you anymore.**

Completion! Please listen; I am giving you another definition of Completion.

**Completion is nothing but reclaiming the bits and pieces you threw away in unconsciousness. Listen. The parts of you, bits of you, pieces of you that you shared or threw them with so many things and people in your life unconsciously; reclaiming all those parts back and becoming complete with you, is Completion.**

Listen. There are intellectual, emotional being-level people. Incarnations, such as Śaṇkara, Buddha strongly appeal to intellectual people. It is difficult for emotional people to relate to them. We can't imagine Buddha singing and dancing with a flute or Śaṇkara doing *rās-līlā!* Emotional people relate to Mīrā, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Āndāl who are always singing, dancing and celebrating.

People who are at the being level straightaway want the experience; they cannot relate to the intellectual or emotional Incarnations. They are neither ready to analyze nor ready to believe. A person ready to analyze goes to *śāstras*. A person ready to believe is drawn to *stotras*, but a person who wants straight experience, instant coffee, instant experience, can neither wait for *śāstras* nor *stotras*. He straightaway wants the technology, the applied science. For him, Śiva, Mahādeva who created the *vijñana-bhairava-tantra*, is the answer. All the great meditation techniques He deliveres are for being-oriented people. *Śāstras* are like the main theory, the basic science. *Sūtras* are applied science. They give straight answers.


*Dhṛtarāṣṭra is the embodiment of self-doubt which is always blind!* His attachment to his sons, especially the crown prince Duryodhana, had blinded his powers of reasoning. Whatever his son did received his endorsement. From early adolescence, Duryodhana had been plotting to kill his Pāṇḍava cousins. Although Dhṛtarāṣṭra pretended ignorance of his son's evil deeds, he was aware of what his son was up to. Even when Duryodhana and his brother Duśśāssana went to the extreme of disgracing Draupadī, the wife of Pāṇḍavas, trying to disrobe her in public court, Dhṛtarāṣṭra seemed powerless to act. When Duryodhana finally refused to give the Pāṇḍavas even a needlepoint of land, still Dhṛtarāśṭra kept quiet, ensuring that blood would be shed.

Dhṛtarāṣṭra was fully aware that he was non-integrated and inauthentic, following the evil path of *adharma* and that it would result in the destruction of his clan. Yet he seemed powerless to act otherwise. Dhṛtarāṣṭra's tale is common to humankind. Often, we follow wrong paths even though we know it is wrong, we go out of integrity and authenticity almost as if under a hypnotic spell of doubting ourselves. *Gītā*, therefore, begins from this premise of blinding self-doubting pattern, the primal pattern that invokes all other patterns in us!

Mahābhārat is not merely the fight between good and evil. Far from that, it is about our root patterns, our inner conflict in being unable to do the right thing, not being courageous enough to stand for what is right, and not taking responsibility to be complete. It is about the lack of awareness, clarity and courage to follow the path of righteousness, *dharma* of integrity, authenticity, responsibility, and enriching. It is a fight between good and evil within us, not merely outside of us. It is actually a fight between the completions and incompletions within us, between possibilities and patterns within us.

Kṛṣṇa, the Superconscious, constantly looms over our being, eternally reminding us of our space of highest positivity, possibility, divinity and enlightenment with His tremendous patience and infinite compassion. Yet we ignore this divine call within us, caught in self-doubting illusion that what we choose instead will make us happy.

Listen. I tell you, all wars between countries are nothing but triggering the collective root patterns of that society. Whether it is war at home, or war in the communities, or war between the countries, the root pattern is responsible.

Incompletion at the level of a single individual piles up and becomes the incompletion at the level of society. Incompletion in the level of society piles up and becomes the incompletion in the level of large communities. Incompletion in the level of large communities piles up and becomes the incompletion in the level of the whole country. Incompletion in the level of countries leads to and causes wars.

War is the result of incompletions. Whether it is war between you and *you,* or war between a country and country, it is the result of incompletions, which is there in a single human being. Kurukṣetra war is the ultimate war of the collective root patterns of humanity itself.

Dhṛtarāṣṭra refers to Kurukṣetra, the site of this world war, as a holy land or place of righteousness, *dharmakṣetra.*

#### *dharmakṣetre kurukṣetra samavetā yuyutsavaḥ I māmakāḥ pāṇḍavāś caiva kim akurtava sañjaya II 1.1*

People ask, 'How can a battlefield be called a holy land?' If you study the history of humanity, you find that it has always been a battlefield. Whether these wars were morally guided or misguided is a matter of opinion. What is right for one need not be right for another.

Listen! Mahābhārat beautifully says, 'Let the fight be in *kurukṣetra*!' In Saṃskṛit, *kurukṣetra* means space of creation. *Kuru* means doing. Let the fight be in the space of creation. The whole place of fight should *not* be with the lowest realm, but with the highest realm! So, you will always be in the middle. In the fight itself, you will always be in the middle, and in the end you will be at the peak.

Look into your life. Now all your fight is, 'Will I lose this job or not?' 'What will happen if I fall sick, if I am alone?' 'What will happen if I become bankrupt?' 'What will happen if this happens, that happens?' Then you console yourself, 'All that will not happen! Don't bother!' This is the fight you always do! Shift from the zone of fight into positive creation.

Listen! You are fighting in the wrong zone of your life. For example, if you are all the time afraid of becoming bankrupt, decide, 'I am going to be a billionaire.' So, in your inner space the fight will be about—will you become a billionaire or not. You may have millions, but the fight will no more be of self-doubting thoughts of bankruptcy or not. Let the fight always be in *kurukṣetra*, the zone of creation, not in the zone of destruction. All your worrying, all your thinking, all your basic cognition is, 'Will I lose this job or not?' Even in your nightmare dreams, you will only be worried about, 'Will I lose this job or not?' No! Always let your fight be, 'Will I become CEO or not?' not 'Will I lose this job or not?'

Shift the battlefield onto the land of creation! Let *kurukṣetra* be the battlefield—*dharmakṣetre kurukṣetra*. Please listen! The fight in your life, if it is in the field of creation, you are living in *dharma*. If it is in the field of failure, you are living in a*dharma*. This is the meaning of this first *śloka* (verse) of the *Gītā*.

Practically every century, if not every decade, there have been battles in some part of the world. Almost all were created out of the belief that one party was morally right and the other wrong. In that sense, each battle was fought to restore righteousness, as believed by both parties. So, in that sense every battlefield was a holy site according to someone's belief, restoring the highest values and beliefs. In the case of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, he had an additional reason. He implicitly recognized the divinity of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, whose mere presence on this battlefield conferred upon it the mantle of *dharma.* Wherever Kṛṣṇa was, that was where *dharma*, righteousness would prevail. Even in his confused state of doubtful thinking, there was enough clarity in Dhṛtarāṣṭra's mind to acknowledge the supremacy of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. This revealed itself in his choice of words. It was as if, at one level, Dhṛtarāṣṭra knew that the fate of his Kaurava clan was sealed.

**Listen. Life is a fight till you are enlightened.** But, let your fight be in *kurukṣetra*, the field of creation, not in the field of losing. Don't be constantly fighting with, 'Will I get heart-attack and die?' 'Will my health collapse?' 'Will others leave me?' 'Will I become bankrupt?' No! The ground on which the battle happens decides your existence and expansion. Let your visualization be—'Will I become CEO or not?' 'Will I become yogi or not?' 'Will I become jñani or not?' 'Will I become rich or not, leader or not?' 'Will I become enlightened or not?'

I tell you, if your fight is in the direction of *kuru*, you will win the game very easily with least or no stress. It does not take more than forty-eight hours to convince yourself to shift the battleground. You just need to complete some of the self-doubts that you got from your elders, family and societal conditioning. Complete with them! So, all you need to do is just shift your core visualization, your core cognition, your core energy.

Change the battlefield and enter the energy-field of *dharma*, led and controlled by Śrī Kṛṣṇa, immediately you will experience so much of completion. Kṛṣṇa is the epitome of *dharma* (righteousness), and Kṛṣṇa was on the side of the Pāṇḍavas, then how could they lose? The tragic fate of Dhṛtarāṣṭra was that he knew that the destruction of his clan was inevitable, and yet his self-doubts had turned into self-denial, making him powerless and deny the obvious path of *dharma*.

Listen. The moment you change the battlefield from *adharma* to *dharma*, you may even become enlightened; because it is your default parking spot that decides whether you are enlightened or not. Otherwise you ARE enlightened! You just need to remember and reclaim it. The best way to remember and reclaim it is to complete with your self-doubting patterns and shift the battlefield itself. See, now your battlefield is—'any one day I am going to become bankrupt. Let me delay it as much as possible!' Instead, let it be—'any one day I am going to become the richest being. Let me do it as early as possible!'

So, your goal should be your parking spot, default parking spot. You can take your car wherever you want, but finally you will park where it belongs; your garage. Same way, your mind can go wherever it wants, but end of the day it should come and parking spot of your goal, not your accident spot. Accidents may or may not happen, but accident spot cannot be the parking spot. In your life, bad things may or may not happen, but that is not the spot where you should park yourself. Listen, your parking spot should be the spot of creation, the field of Kurukṣetra.

Kauravas were fighting all the time with their insecurities and lost everything. Pāṇḍavas were fighting all the time to create *Indraprastha*, the land of creation. So, Pāṇḍavas were living *dharma*. Kauravas were living in their self-denial, self-hatred and self-destructive mentality, *adharma*.

Please listen, if you think, 'Any one day I am going to become bankrupt. Let me do whatever I want to delay it,' then you are living in *adharma*.

Shift the battlefield. Shifting the battlefield itself is victory! Because, your whole energy will be flowing in that direction. Only if you know you are going to make it, only if you don't doubt yourself, you will even take the risk of investing in it, whether it is your time, energy, money, emotions, anything; investing happens only when you know you are going to make it. I tell you, the moment you complete with your selfdoubts and your battlefield changes, your strategy, your understanding and your whole expression will also change.

Sañjaya was Dhṛtarāṣṭra's minister and charioteer. By the grace of sage Vyāsa, Sañjaya was given the power to see what was going on in the battlefield, to faithfully convey to king Dhṛtarāṣṭra and queen Gāndhāri the tragic happenings therein. His third eye or centre of intuition was opened, and not only could he see what was happening at a faraway location, but he had the power of intuition as well, to know what would unfold.

**Please listen! Your life is nothing but seeing. Seeing is your life.** If you can see something through the eyes, you can experience it with your physical body. If you can see something with your mind, you can understand it with your mental body. If you can see something with your consciousness, you can control it, as the Lord of it. We are all blind in one sense or another, and Dhṛtarāṣṭra represents the majority of mankind in this aspect. Blindness in this case is not only the physical inability to see. It essentially represents the inability and the absence of desire to discriminate between right and wrong. It represents the non-integrity to separate completion from incompletion.

We can all be like Sañjaya, with our third eyes open instead of being blind like Dhṛtarāṣṭra. This is one of the messages of *Gītā*. Whether you are blind or have physical eyes, you continue to see through your inner eyes. Dhṛtarāṣṭra blinded by his self-doubts, saw only his sons, who represent his incomplete identity. Listen. The third eye is not just an eye; it is the very source of consciousness. Third-eye is nothing but conscious-seeing. Consciously seeing our incompletions, our inner conflicts is the first step in opening the third eye, the energy center located between the eyebrows. Third eye can be awakened with right thinking.

Let me define right thinking, the thinking based on *dharma*.

**Aligning all your thinking based on the cognition of the four principles—***tattvas* **of integrity, authenticity, responsibility and enriching is right thinking.**

Again, it is interesting the way Sañjaya started his description of the proceedings.

### Before the War...

Duryodhana was the crown prince, and for all practical purposes the king as well, since his father was both blind and powerless to stop him. Duryodhana saw the soldiers of the Pāṇḍava army arrayed in front of him. There were many ways he could have responded to the sight. As the person who single-handedly instigated this war, Duryodhana could have gloated, that surely he would vanquish his cousins. As a measure to reassure himself and his army, Duryodhana could have roared out in anger and in defiance. Yet, after seeing the army he chose to approach his teacher and mentor, Droṇa, one of the commanders of the Kaurava army, to seek his blessings.

The move was to ensure that any blame for the outcome of the war would fall on Droṇa's shoulders; it was to hold him responsible more than to seek reassurance or blessings.

This is how most people act when they go forward with a plan of action, knowing fully well that it is wrong and can lead to serious consequences. They find something or someone else to blame. Blaming somebody else will only make you feel more and more powerless, more and more incomplete. Duryodhana understood well the modern management concept of delegation. Like many managers today, he delegated so that he could abdicate responsibility. It is very unfortunate that human beings are taught from the beginning to put the responsibility on others.

Duryodhana, aware that there was no hope to win the war, yet his greed for power and wealth blinded him to a point where he could not face reality as it IS. Please understand, sometimes we believe what IS. The reality, the creation IS and we are seeing it. Most of us always feel, 'It is there. I am seeing. So I am caught! I don't know what to do!' Duryodhana also was caught in his greed patterns and wished to change what IS, the reality so that he could control the outcome.

**Please listen. We are not seeing what IS. We are only seeing what we want. We create what we want.** When Duryodhana cognized, 'It is there! I am seeing and I need to control it,' he already lost the game! He was fighting a losing war! He was feeling powerless! He put all the blame on what IS, 'It is there! What can I do?'

**What is Responsibility? Responsibility means living and responding to life from the truth that you are the Source of, and therefore responsible for all happenings in and around you.**

Listen. There are only two types of human beings on planet Earth those who feel responsible for everything and those who don't feel responsible for anything.

People who feel responsible become leaders. People who don't feel


Whether it is a material life or a spiritual life, unless the body and mind are under our control, whatever we may think or whatever we want to do is of no use. Suppose we sit down in the morning and draw out a big plan for the day, analyzing all the data, 'I must do this,' 'I must do that,' but at the end of the day, beyond our control, we spontaneously indulge in a drink and sleep or do other things, what is the use of the whole day's plan? Nothing! We go on creating what we want to do in our mind, but at the end of the day, the body behaves the way it wants to. Even the mind behaves as it wants to. We get nowhere!

**'Life,' the very word 'life,' can happen only when the body and mind are under your control.** As long as the body and mind are not under your control, you will not even experience the word 'life.' Until the body and mind are under your control, you are not living. Only the root thought patterns or the engraved memories are living you. Unless you find your root thought patterns and complete, *life* does not start for you.

Until we experience the *kṣetrajña*, the knower of the field, the real life never begins. This is why the vedic system considers a person to be born only when his individual consciousness is awakened. Until then his physical birth is not accepted, nor is he considered a human being or a *manuṣya*. According to the *Vedas*, when someone's inner consciousness is awakened he is considered a human being or a person who has taken birth. Until then he is one among the animals.

The Saṃskṛit word *manuṣya* has two meanings. One is 'descendant of Manu,' and the other is 'the man who can handle the mind or one who has gone beyond the mind.' Manu is supposed to be our first forefather. Only when we can handle the mind, we become *manuṣya*. In Saṃskṛit they say, '*pratyagātma caitanya jāgrataṁ*.' It means that only when the individual consciousness is awakened is one considered to be a person.

In the Hindu Vedic system, when a child turns seven he is initiated into the Gāyatrī, a sacred *mantra* or chant. You should understand one important thing here. The Vedic religion, or Hinduism, the integrated *sanātana-dharma,* is the only religion in which there is no enslaving or encaging or engaging philosophy. You are not given any faith, any concept and any philosophy; you are only enriched to awaken your highest possibility, your consciousness. You are not asked to believe in anything. You are just given a technique to do completion with your body and mind. That's all.

The first thing that our *Ṛṣis* or ancient Hindu Enlightened Masters want us to do is to bring our body and mind under our control with the power of completion. They want us to learn how to live in completion with our body and mind. The *Gāyatrī mantra* is like an owner's manual for the body and mind. If we have a car, an owner's manual is a basic need. Without reading the owner's manual, if we start driving a car, then whose mistake is it?

Only at around the age of seven do we start to handle our body. After the age of seven the intellect starts working and we start making decisions. The moment we start making decisions, we should first know how to bring the body and mind under control. That is why the *Vedic* Masters teach the completion technique to awaken the inner intelligence and to master the consciousness. It is similar to reading the owner's manual before using the car.

# What You Know Is Not You

*13.1 Arjuna says:*

*   O Keśava, I wish to know and understand about prakṛti and puruṣa, passive and active energies. The field \[kṣetra] and the knower of the field \[kṣetrajña], and of knowledge \[jñānaṁ] and of the end of knowledge \[jñeyaṃ].

### *13.2 Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa replies: This body, O Kaunteya, is called the field, kṣetra. Anyone who knows this body is called the knower of the field, kṣetrajña.*

*   13.3 O Bhārata, know that I am the Knower in all bodies \[kṣetrajñā], the Creator. In my opinion, knowledge means the understanding of this body or the field of creation as well as the Creator, one who knows this field.

Kṛṣṇa explains, 'O Kaunteya (son of Kuntī), O Arjuna, this body is called the field, *kṣetra*; the person who knows this body is called the knower of the field or *kṣetrajña.*'

*śrī bhagavān uvāca idaṁ śarīraṁ kaunteya kṣetram ity adhidhīyate I etad yo vetti taṁ prāhuḥ kṣetrajña iti tad-vidaḥ II 13.1*

Whatever you know is not you. If you know something, it is not you. For instance, you can read this book because it is separate and apart from you. Similarly, if you can know your body, then it is not you. If you can know your mind, then it is not you. If you can know your thoughts, then they are not you. Whatever you know is not you. You are separate from that or above that. That is why you are able to know it. Whether it is the body, thoughts or emotions, whatever you know is not you.

Now we need to separate these two, the field from the knower of the field. Once we separate these two, the body will be complete, blissful and joyful! Consciousness will be liberated. When these two join, that is where the problem starts.

A one-liner that I read somewhere said: A man tells his friend, 'My sign is earth and my wife's sign is water. Together we make mud!'

Water and earth are beautiful as they are. Only when they are mixed do we get mud!

Similarly, consciousness, as it is, is beautiful and so is the body. When the two meet, that is where the trouble of incompletions starts. All we need to do is understand and create the right cognition about the field and the knower, that is, what *we are* and what *we are not*. The problem in our lives is that when we identify ourselves with something, we believe we are that. Instead of understanding that we possess a mind, we believe we are the mind. The mind then becomes 'I'.

As long as I think this table is mine, there is no problem. If I start thinking that I am this table, the problem starts! As long as we think that our body and mind are ours, there is no problem. But the problem appears the moment we identify with them. Kṛṣṇa says, 'We must understand that whatever we know is not us.' Inch by inch He starts to explain the difference between *kṣetra* and *kṣetrajña.*

When we understand that something is separate from us, we never feel that we must renounce it. We simply need to renounce the inadequate cognition that we are that particular thing, that's all. We will simply know that there is nothing to renounce just by being aware of the way in which our body or mind works. Neither will we feel tortured by them, nor will we feel like torturing them. The people who are tortured by the body and mind are caught in this world and its troubles. Another group of people continuously torture the body and mind in the name of *tapas*, penance.

I have seen people in Bharat practicing yoga by sitting or standing on nails for five years! There are people who torture the body by standing on one leg, rolling on the ground or walking on fire. There is no need to torture the body in such ways. Actually we torture the body because we think that it is torturing us. We take revenge. At one extreme, people are caught in pleasures of the senses and killing themselves. At the other extreme, people torture the body in the name of penance. Neither knows how to handle the body and mind.

A person who knows how to handle his body and mind enjoys the whole thing. He is totally at ease with himself. He feels completely relaxed with his body and mind. He intensely enjoys all pleasures and comforts and he never abuses the body.

Enjoying and abusing are two different things. Enjoying is when the mind and the body are in tune with each other. We feel ease, comfort, a deep sense of relaxation and a feeling of being at home with ourselves. Another category of people tortures the body for the sake of the mind, in the name of penance or *tapas*. These people are in search of peace and bliss. They go on disrespecting and torturing the body: going without food for months together, standing on one leg, or walking on fire. They continuously abuse the body or mind in one way or the other.

Torturing others happens when we torture ourselves. If we torture ourselves, naturally we will torture others. Please understand that we torture others when we do not feel comfortable and complete within ourselves. Torturing others is directly related to torturing ourselves. If we think that we are the mind, we torture our body; and if we think we are the body, we torture our mind. The person who knows the secrets of the body and mind neither tortures nor abuses them. He knows how to use and enrich them and live blissfully in completion with them. His inner space overflows with bliss, and his outer space enjoys comforts and real pleasures.

Kṛṣṇa reveals the sacred secrets of how to enrich the body and mind in beautiful and blissful energy, and how to create the inner space of completion, flowing in blissful consciousness.

Kṛṣṇa says further, 'O Bhārata, I am also the Knower in all bodies *kṣetrajñaṁ cāpi māṁ*. To understand this body and the knower is called knowledge.'

Beautiful! Here, He makes two statements. He says, 'I am the Knower in all the bodies, and to understand the knower and the body is knowledge—*kṣetra kṣetrajñayor jñānaṁ yat taj jñānaṁ mataṁ mama*.' He says that understanding the field or the body-mind and the consciousness is knowledge. He says, 'I myself reside as the consciousness inside the beings—*sarva kṣetreṣu bhārata.*'

*kṣetrajñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva kṣetreṣu bhārata I kṣetra kṣetrajñayor jñānaṁ yat taj jñānaṁ mataṁ mama II 13.3*

Our consciousness is God and there is no separate thing as God. The problem arises when we start carrying an inadequate cognition thinking that we are the body and the mind. A person who carries the right cognition and understands that he is consciousness liberates himself. He is enlightened. He becomes the Buddha. Consciousness is God.

> The Equation is: God + body mind = man man – body mind = God!

### **You Are Consciousness, KṢetrajña**

Whether we believe it or not, we *are* consciousness. Let us see how we miss it, how we miss and mess our life!

Here is a beautiful story about knowing the body and the mind and how we miss realizing that we are consciousness.

> A pregnant lioness was hunting for food one day when she came across a flock of sheep. She tried to attack the flock but the effort was too much for her. She fell on the ground, giving birth to a cub and also died due to the pressure she exerted.
>
> The flock of sheep saw the newborn lion cub. They started playing with him. They felt that they should take care of this cub, as one species often does for a newborn of another species. They just took pity on him and adopted him. The

sheep started taking care of the cub in the same way they care for their young ones, feeding him with goat milk and grass!

The cub started behaving like a sheep and grew up along with the sheep. He lived happily amongst them, not knowing that they were different from him.

After some time the problem started slowly. It had to. The mother sheep started receiving complaints about the behavior of the cub, 'He is too arrogant,' 'He is too strong and rough,' 'He is not playing properly with us.' Naturally the cub was sidelined. Whenever any argument arose, they decided to punish him.

After a few days, the lion cub started to wonder, 'What is this? I don't feel that I am really living. Is this all a lie? Is this all that there is to life—eating grass, jumping around and bleating, just going around the grasslands? I don't feel I am leading a full life.' He felt that he was unlike the others, that somehow he was different. He did not feel that he was *being* himself.

Whenever he saw a forest, he was tempted to go and explore the forest. But his sheep mother had warned him that it was the one thing he should not do. She forbade him from straying away from the flock, obviously now considering him to be one of the sheep. She cautioned him that if he did so, the lions inside the forest would kill him.

This whole story is actually about the spiritual seeker! It is about how a person takes birth, starts seeking and how he achieves fulfillment. It's a wonderful story. I love this story. That is why I repeat this story whenever I can!

> The mother sheep said, 'You cannot go there, there are lions out there.' The cub somehow managed to suppress his search or feeling of emptiness even though he felt drawn

in and was tempted to go into the forest to explore. After some time he decided, 'I think this life is not for me.' But somehow the mother sheep managed to pressurize and control him. She played a big drama—weeping, crying, convincing, and finally she got this lion married! The lion cub got married and a few years passed by. After some years he again started thinking and analyzing, 'What is going on? I am leading the same old life, eating, bleating and jumping around! I feel something is seriously missing! I have found whatever best one can get—a good mother, good wife, nice life—but deep inside me, there is only emptiness. I don't feel fulfilled. What is happening to me?'

Again he started searching. The seeking started.

Then suddenly one day, a lion from the nearby forest attacked the flock of sheep. When this happened all the sheep ran away. This sheep-lion neither felt like running away, nor did he have the courage to stand and face the lion. He knew the lion was trying to attack, but he thought, 'He looks so graceful. Something about him is different.' He had never seen such a majestic beast before. So, slowly, somehow, unconsciously this sheep-lion felt attracted and drawn towards the lion. Because of the attraction, neither did he run away, nor did he have the courage to face the lion, because he thought he was a sheep under attack.

He started walking away slowly but kept his face and gaze fixed on the lion. The lion straightaway came near him and caught him.

The *sheep-lion* started bleating, 'Oh, please leave me alone and do not kill me!' The lion said, 'Fool, I have not come to kill you! You are a lion, why are you bleating and shouting for help? Why do you think I will kill you?'

'Lion?' the sheep-lion suspected that the lion was trying to

cheat him and take him to the forest. He became frightened and cried, 'No, leave me.' The lion again said, 'Fool! You are a lion, why don't you understand that?' The sheep-lion refused to believe the lion. He escaped and ran away.

Even though he ran away, the sheep-lion was unable to forget the lion. For a week he was afraid. Fear is usually there after the first glimpse, after the first experience. He had had the first glimpse of the lion! This is how Arjuna felt after his first experience of the Divine, his first glimpse of Kṛṣṇa. It is an experience that evokes fear as well as a blissful attraction.


We have forgotten that we have taken this body and mind for a purpose and that is to live our desires, *saṁskāras*. We have forgotten that we have only rented this body-mind costume for this birth and we gradually associate ourselves with it! After a while, this costume becomes more important and dear to us than anything else. Once the costume begins to wear out, we start to worry.

This is what happens when we wrongly associate ourselves with the body and mind, instead of associating with the consciousness that runs it. We confuse *kṣetrajña* with *kṣetra*. Naturally, all the problems that arise at the body-mind level start to affect us. The activities that happen to the body-mind appear to be having a direct influence on our lives.

In the next few verses, Kṛṣṇa takes Arjuna step-by-step into what these activities are and how they interact with each other.

Kṛṣṇa talks about the five great elements, the false ego, the intelligence or the mind that makes decisions and all ten senses. Please understand, He says, 'ten senses, *indriyāṇi daśakaṁ ca'*. We think we have five senses. No. We have five *karmendriya* and five *jñānendriya. Karmendriya* are the senses or organs responsible for actions such as talking, walking etc and they are the mouth, hands and feet, organs of excretion and reproduction. *Jñānendriya* are our five senses that receive knowledge such as smell, taste, sight, touch, and hearing and they are the nose, tongue, eyes, skin and ear. So, all the ten senses, plus attachment, aversion, joy, sorrow, the body, mutual attraction and the consciousness contribute to the field of activities.

Actually the word 'consciousness' cannot be used. When our consciousness becomes rigid, it becomes conscience. There's a difference between conscience and consciousness.

For example, we do something based upon what we think is right or wrong according to our conscience. If we give these same teachings to the next generation, it will not work because something else may be right or wrong for them. When we force them to follow the same thing that we did, we are giving it as just a morality, as just a conscience. We are giving them a law without the spirit. On the other hand, when we give our next generation an understanding about life, we give them consciousness.

#### **Conscience Is Suffering**

Understand, a person with only conscience always suffers. He can never be happy, whether he enjoys or renounces. If he enjoys, he suffers from guilt. If he renounces, he feels the lack of it. He suffers either way. Never give conscience to the next generation. Always give them an understanding about life, what I call consciousness. Let them experience and explore.

I do not believe in morality. I believe in conscious experience. I do not believe in conscientiousness. I believe in consciousness.

Conscience is given to us by society. Consciousness is given to us by God. Conscience is social conditioning. Consciousness is our very nature.

Conscience naturally makes our whole life into a ritual. We should know why we are doing and what we are doing before doing anything. Only then will we do it intensely with integrity and authenticity. If we do not know the context and logic behind what we are doing, we will neither integrate ourselves completely into doing it nor take the responsibility to authentically dedicate ourselves to it.

Kṛṣṇa says that the rigid sense of conscience, all the rules that form the *kṣetra*, are also the field. They are matter. They are not energy. They are not your being. They are not you. Whatever is mentioned here is not you. Listen! We should understand we are liberated the moment we know what we are not. We are liberated even if we live with what is not us. Even if we live with our body-mind, if we know that we are not the body and the mind, then we are not their slaves!

Please understand that the word 'slavery' can be used as long as something goes against your will. With awareness and completion, even if you live with the body-mind, you are not their slave.

Nothing can enslave us once we understand and cognize that we

are *not* body and mind. We can never become a slave to anything. Even slavery cannot enslave us. Slavery can enslave us as long as we are not ready to cooperate with slavery. This is a subtle point. So, please listen! When we cognize that we are beyond body and mind, we will feel no need to resist when somebody tries to enslave us. We know that we can never be slaves.

Only that which goes against our will can enslave us. Here we are in a totally different space, a totally different consciousness, the space of completion and nothing can go against our will. And we will never have a will that would make us feel like a slave. We will be flowing with the river, flowing with the current. We will disappear into the Divine. So slavery cannot happen to us. Our consciousness is beyond any form of slavery.

That is why Kṛṣṇa teaches the secret of understanding the bodymind and consciousness, *kṣetra* and *kṣetrajña.* In ancient times, man was only subjected to physical slavery. In the present day, man is subjected to psychological slavery. Understand, we are the psychological slaves of countless things.

When some product is advertised on television, straightaway it sits in our head. Within a few days, we somehow get money and buy that product. We live in a world of psychological slavery. Once we understand that we are not the body-mind, that we are beyond it, we will be totally free from physical and psychological slavery.

See, it is like this. When we badly want a particular object or event to happen, our happiness is in the hands of that object or event. That external object or event has the power to control our happiness. We feel depressed when things turn out other than the way we desired. We feel the world is unfair. Many people ask me, 'Why has God been so unfair to me? Why is it that only I face these difficulties?' Please understand, the moment you place your happiness in the hands of something or someone, you have become their slave. They can exploit you.

One more thing is that even the thought of wanting freedom can exploit us if we allow it. Many times we chase freedom in the name of spiritual seeking. Freedom happens only when we realize that there is no need to chase. We must drop the idea of wanting freedom and just trust the freedom. We will then experience it. Otherwise, craving for freedom can enslave us instead of enriching us. We realize the futility of this struggle and experience freedom only when we become aware that we are already free.

The minute we stop resisting whatever we have, we start flowing. We stop giving someone or something the power to control our happiness. Nothing will enslave us. Everything will enrich us. We will experience the consciousness of completion and freedom.

## Inner Science Technology

*13.8-12 Humility, absence of pride, nonviolence, tolerance, simplicity, service to an enlightened spiritual master, cleanliness, steadiness and self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification; absence of ego, the perception of the pain of the cycle of birth and death, old age and disease; Non-attachment to children, wife, home and the rest, and even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me, resorting to solitary places, detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self realization, and philosophical search for the absolute truth: All these I thus declare to be knowledge and anything contrary to these is ignorance.*

I n these five verses, Kṛṣṇa gives a beautiful technique. Until this point He gave us an intellectual understanding. Now He gives the technique and technology to realize and experience what He says. I call these five verses the inner science technology to liberate our inner space! It is a precise technique to liberate oneself from the *kṣetra.* It talks about how to be liberated from the body-mind and how to bring them under our control.

First, the moment we understand that we are more powerful than the body-mind, we are liberated from the body and the mind. Here, He beautifully gives the technique to liberate us from the body-mind and therefore, how to experience the consciousness.

Let me first give the translation of the verses:

Humility, non-violence, tolerance, simplicity, approaching the

enlightened spiritual master, cleanliness, steadfastness, self-control, renunciation of the objects of sense gratification, absence of all egos, perception of all the evils of birth and death, old age and diseases, detachment, freedom from all entanglements, even-mindedness amidst pleasant and unpleasant events, constant devotion, aspiring to live in a spiritual way, giving importance to the ultimate truth, and detachment. All these I declare to be knowledge and besides these, whatever there may be, is ignorance.

Kṛṣṇa mentions a long list of things in these verses with many instructions. Let me be very clear that if we straightaway try to practice all the qualities He has given here, we will feel we are going mad! We cannot really practice these qualities. All we can do is help the consciousness to happen in us so that we start radiating these qualities. These qualities simply happen in us.

By way of comparison, let us say we want to remove the dirt from a muddy water tank. If we put our hands into the tank and try to take away the mud, what happens? We make it muddier, that's all. All the dirt that is settled below will come up to the surface. Instead, if we sprinkle a handful of lime powder inside the tank, it will absorb the dirt and we can have clean water in the tank.

Our mind is also like a muddy tank. If we try to suppress it and fight with it, we will create more incompletion. Instead just add a little meditation process of completion which is like the lime powder, and relax. Just put in your awareness to complete and relax. Automatically the impurities will settle down. The moment we become aware and complete, and the witnessing consciousness starts operating, the whole thing settles down. The witnessing consciousness is the lime powder that purifies our being.

Rāmakṛṣṇa says that if the straight line of integrity connects your mouth and mind, you will be liberated. We cheat ourselves if we engage in an activity because it is appreciated by society and not because we feel it from within. This constant mismatch of internal and external, of what we feel deep within and what we do is inauthenticity, it creates problems.

Instead of creating consciousness, we start creating the activity. Instead of working on our *being*, we work on our *doing*. Our doing is in no way going to help us. Only our being is going to help us. So work on the *being* and not on the *doing.* A person who works on his doing may continuously chisel, chisel and chisel his *doing*; however, his *being* will face the same old struggle, suppression, suffering, and fighting. Instead, if we work on our being, we will flower and automatically radiate the right energy, the right consciousness!

#### **You Are Unique**

If we practice these qualities just because Kṛṣṇa say that we should, the qualities will never really develop in us. They will remain skin deep. When true non-violence happens, our very being will radiate love, no matter what. Even if an enemy were to stand in front of us, no other emotion but love would remain in us, and that is what Kṛṣṇa really wants.

If we visit Sringeri, a temple in South Bharat, we will see a stone statue of a snake protecting a frog with its hood. A beautiful sight! It depicts that emotion of divine love that is unconditional. Divine love does not consider whether a person is a friend or enemy. If we are centered in our being, qualities of love and non-violence happen. All the things that Kṛṣṇa has mentioned in these five verses are an outcome of the flowering of that consciousness, and not things to be practiced. If we practice them to please somebody else, we would become slaves to the people around us.

Normally we believe others' opinions about us. We accept their scale as a standard for measuring ourselves. Then we get into trouble. This is what I call 'guilt'. Guilt is reviewing our past decisions with updated intelligence. If we use our present intelligence to review our past decisions, we create guilt and suffering. Understand, we are updated every second. We are not the same as what we were a few hours ago. Our intelligence is continuously updated. So naturally when we look back and analyze what happened in the past we feel certain things could have been avoided. The problem is that we think we run the show. We take everything upon our shoulders and allow emotions like guilt and worry to come in. If we remember that the Universe is pure Intelligence that knows how to take care of our lives, we will simply relax. Also, when we allow the cosmic intelligence to operate, we spontaneously express the beautiful qualities that Kṛṣṇa enumerates. The same cannot be achieved by doing anything.

Kṛṣṇa first talks about humility or *amānitvaṁ*. Humility can never be achieved by effort. If it is attempted through effort, it looks ugly. Humility happens when we feel that every being is unique. It does not come by thinking that everyone is equal. There are no equals! If we deeply understand that every being is unique, we automatically respect everyone. Every being has something that he contributes to Existence, to life.

Listen. Even our enemy contributes to our growth! He may do it indirectly but nevertheless, he contributes to our growth. Never think that a person is useless. We are removed from planet Earth the moment we stop contributing to Existence in some way or other.

Normally we evaluate whether a person is worthy of our respect. We will see how well qualified he is, how much society respects him. Then we will decide, 'Okay, I think I can show him some respect.' It is as though our respect is so precious and the world continues to run because of that! When we understand that every being is a unique creation of the Universe, that the same divinity that is in us is in them also, we automatically radiate humility and the absence of pride. All these qualities that are supposed to be radiated by a seeker should simply happen from within. This is what Kṛṣṇa explains.

Another important thing: How should we approach an Enlightened spiritual Master or *ācāryopāsana*? He talks about this in another verse also—*tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā* (4.34)*.* It means that we should approach the Master with questions and request him to answer the questions. Why? Why does Kṛṣṇa say that? What is the need? Again and again, spiritual literature emphasizes the Master. It is not only in the *Bhagavad Gītā.* In all integrated spiritual traditions, the living Master plays an important role. Why?