Intelligence Questions

1.23 Let me see those who have come here to fight,

Wishing to please the evil-minded son of Dhritharashtra.

1.24 Sanjaya said:

O descendant of Bharata, being thus addressed by Arjuna,

Krishna then drew up the fine chariot in the midst of both armies.

Arjuna starts out on a challenging note. He says he would like to see all those who had assembled to fight him, in support of the evil minded Duryodhana. Accordingly, Krishna

drew up the chariot between the two armies so that Arjuna could have a good look at all those who had gathered.

Arjuna is being called Gudakesa in this verse, the one who had transcended sleep, or the need to sleep. Sleep, here, also refers to the unconscious mind. All our samskara, the embedded memories, our value systems and the beliefs that drive our actions, reside in our unconscious. Arjuna is being referred to here as one who has conquered his samskaras, as a result of his total surrender to Krishna.

Krishna has been called Hrishikesa, one who controls the senses. The relationship between Krishna and Arjuna is the highest form of interaction between the Divine and the human.

In a later part of Mahabharata, there is an incident that illustrates this relationship.

One day, Arjuna was walking with Krishna after the war was over. Suddenly Krishna points out to a crow on a tree and says, 'Arjuna, look at that green crow! Can you see it?'

Arjuna responds immediately, 'Yes, Krishna, I see the green crow.'

They walk a little further and again Krishna points to another crow on another tree and exclaims, 'Arjuna, do you see the black crow on that tree?'

This time Arjuna says, 'Yes Krishna, I see that black crow.'

Krishna turns to Arjuna and says, 'Arjuna, you are a fool! How can a crow ever be green? Why did you agree with me when I pointed to a crow and said it was green?'

Arjuna simply answered, 'Krishna, when You pointed out a crow and said it was green, my eyes actually saw a green crow. What can I do?'

The metaphysical importance of this exchange is beautiful. You see, for one who is caught in the sleep of unconscious living, this world of illusion, maya, appears utterly real. But the enlightened master is not fooled. He has awakened to the level of Pure Consciousness and knows that this world is just another type of dream. When the disciple is able to completely trust the Master's senses - that this world is illusion – and not his own senses that give the idea that this world is real and the source of his happiness, then the surrender is total. Krishna's senses were controlled in the sense He knew that what He experienced through them was not the source of His happiness and therefore He didn't run after sensual pleasures for His fulfillment.

When approaching the Divine or one's master, the ultimate step is one of complete surrender. This surrender happens in three stages. At the first level it is an intellectual surrender - the intellectual acceptance of what is divine, what the master represents and what he means to you. A true seeker reaches this stage when he encounters the real master destined for him. The seeker sees in the master, qualities he has been searching for, and answers to questions that have long arisen in his mind.

At this stage of intellectual surrender, when the disciple meets the master, questions start dying down. It is as if answers come to one's mind even before questions happen.

Questions can never be answered. They are a reflection of one's internal violence, violence of one's ego, wishing to prove one's control over another person. If we analyze our own questions, almost always it is about telling another person about what we know, telling that person that he does not know, rather than it being the desire to know ourselves.

Rarely are our questions like that of an innocent child, who asks out of curiosity. A child may ask, 'Why is the sky blue?' An adult would rarely ask such a question, unless he is a wise scientist whose curiosity transcends his knowledge base and he truly seeks to know.

Intellectual surrender to the master replaces questions with doubts. Doubts are not violent like questions. They do not arise from the ego. They arise from a genuine need to know and to understand. Doubt and faith are two sides of the same coin. One cannot develop faith in one's master without having doubts about him. Despite his high level of surrender, one does see Arjuna initially in this state of questioning as well, perhaps as a lesson to us ordinary mortals. Arjuna progresses during the Gita from the stage of questioning, to the higher stage of intellectual surrender and doubts. Ultimately, we must move beyond both doubt and faith to a deep trust in the master, recognizing that everything the master expresses is for our liberation.

At the next level, one reaches the state of emotional surrender. From shastra one moves to stotra. One moves from the head to the heart. It is like coming home when the heart surrenders. The person feels a deep connection with the master. One does not have to make an effort to remember the master. It is impossible to forget Him. His memory brings tears to one's eyes, tears of gratitude that are impossible to hide.

Ramakrishna said so beautifully, 'When thinking of the Divine or the master, if you have tears streaming down your cheeks, be very sure that this is your last birth.'

Emotional surrender leads one close to liberation. It brings you home.

At the final level, there is the surrender of the senses. One truly realizes Hrishikesa and gives up one's distorted sense of reality and embraces the truth of absolute reality that the Master and every enlightened sage have expressed. Arjuna is at that level of surrender and through the progression of the Gita, layers of Arjuna's surrender peel away.

Arjuna calls Duryodhana evil minded. This was to paint a contrast to his own state of mind from that of Duryodhana, the Kaurava princes and the Kaurava warriors. When one's mind is filled with greed, lust, envy and fear, there is a single-minded focus on the potential material benefits of these negative and evil emotions. There was no confusion in Duryodhana's mind as to what he should do. His objectives were clear - do away with the Pandava princes and usurp the entire kingdom, that's all.

Duryodhana was like an animal, operating out of instinct. Unlike Arjuna, he was not an intelligent man and did not suffer from doubts and guilt. Animals suffer no guilt. They do what comes to them naturally. They do not consider hunting their prey as something that needs discussion. If they are hungry, they hunt, kill and eat. So it is with Duryodhana. He needs power, and whatever might be the means to achieve that power he will employ without any reservation.

A human being has a level of consciousness higher than that of animals. A human can discriminate between right and wrong and has the free will to act based on such awareness. When a human behaves the way Duryodhana does, he is in the unconscious and unaware state.

With such an unaware and unconscious mind, Duryodhana and his allies did not suffer from any doubts of awareness. Mired totally in the darkness of unawareness, these Kaurava warriors followed Duryodhana blindly; unaware that the person they followed was blind himself.

Arjuna, on the other hand is in turmoil. As Krishna brings the chariot to a stop between the two armies, in a metaphoric sense, He brings Arjuna's mind to a steady state.

Duryodhana is in darkness. He is operating out of the instincts of an animal. His moves are totally unconscious, driven completely by his samskaras. In a sense, he is not in control of himself, his samskaras control him. So strong is his delusion that the wise counsel of the few who dare tell him that the path he follows is one of self destruction, falls on deaf ears.

Arjuna, on the other hand, is in a twilight zone. Unlike Duryodhana, Arjuna has become aware of his samskaras, and is working to free himself from their bondage. However, he is not in the zone of light yet.

The conflict between Arjuna and Duryodhana is the conflict that all humans face within themselves. It is a conflict between their deep unconscious desires driven by their samskaras and the potential awareness of their Consciousness. Which part wins depends on one's ability to surrender to the super conscious Divine or the Master.

As long as one is in darkness, one does not miss light. A person born blind has no idea what sight is, what light is and what he is missing. Whatever he may think he is missing is based on what others tell him, not because of any experience of his own.

However, someone who has been born with sight and subsequently lost it would miss it. He would miss the light. He would regret the darkness where he would find himself. He would be afraid of that darkness, which a person born blind would never fear because that would have always been his experience.

Arjuna is in the state of a person who has had sight and has now lost it. He was an intelligent man, who suddenly realized that what he might be doing is wrong and evil. So he is troubled.

Duryodhana on the other hand has a mind that is always in darkness. He has never experienced true intelligence or awareness. Therefore, anything that others tell him is immoral or unethical would make no sense to him.

Q: You say Gita acquires the authority of the scriptures since it is delivered by Krishna, the Perfect Incarnation, poornavataar*. Other scriptures such as the* Veda*, the Koran, etc were revealed to sages. Is there historical proof that Krishna was God incarnate?*

A good question. It is a question that naturally rises in a rational mind. If I were to say that there was some proof or other, the next question will be to show proof that God exists. Only if I can prove that God exists can I prove that Krishna too is God.

Our entire belief system in God or its absence is based on some assumptions we make about God. We cast God in our own image or in an image far different. Whatever we do it is an identity that we create. It is a hallucination, it is a fantasy; it is not an experience.

Since different people have different fantasies and some have fantasies that they themselves are God, there is this continuous argument about whether God exists or not. If some people agree that God exists then they argue about their God being better, faster and stronger than the other persons' God.

Sometimes I feel it is better that people do not believe in God! There will be far less violence and bloodshed on this planet. The vast majority of wars originated from religious conflicts. Religion is the breeding ground for terrorists today. At least atheists do not wage war. They only argue. Some believers cut the throats of those who do not share their belief!

Most of you have only a concept of God. You are sure of your own identity. At least you are able to convincingly articulate about who you think you are, however existentially irrelevant this identity may be. However, when it comes to God, your idea of God is based on your conditioning, belief systems, culture and environment.

This is a powerful unconscious belief. It is difficult to change this belief. For some, God is a bearded old soul with kind eyes. To some there is no form at all and it is sacrilegious to cast Him in form. To billions of Hindus it is Shiva, Krishna, Vishnu or Kali, with definitive forms and attributes.

Buddha denied God. He went beyond the concept of God. For hundreds of years, the Bodhi tree alone represented Buddha. The ultimate irony is that his followers turned him into God!

For most of you, God is a concept, but you are real. To me, I, this form, is unreal, but God is reality! Every movement I make is sanctioned by that ultimate energy. So I have no doubt in telling you that God exists and that Krishna is indeed God. I have seen Him, so I know.

A young man came to me once and asked me, 'Can you show me God?'

Vivekananda posed a similar question when he first met Ramakrishna. As you may know, Vivekananda was the first disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, one of the most renowned enlightened masters of this age. Vivekananda's question arose from a deep desire to experience God. So Ramakrishna answered him appropriately.

This young man was imitating Vivekananda from arrogance. He wanted to show that he had read about Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. So, I caught him by his collar and said, 'Surely I can. Come with me and I shall show you.'

This man thought I had gone mad and ran away!

I do invite every one of you out of compassion, for all of you to come and experience God with me. It is a promise and not easily given.

I have come down with the technology and the compassion and the intelligence, the sutra, the stotra and the shastra to make what I said happen for you. It is a highly refined process and I know that it is successful.

God is not the prerogative of any one religion. You do not have to be part of one religious belief or another to be a believer. God belongs to all, by whatever name you wish to call Him and in whatever form you wish to see Him. Whether you are Christian, Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist, the experiencing of God will make you a better Christian, a better Muslim, a better Hindu and a better Buddhist. None of you will be converted from your own religion into another.

The concept of God should not be about conversion. Only those who are insecure in their own beliefs about God would want to force their beliefs on others. No confident religion would want to convert someone else's belief system.

A while ago I met with a Christian priest in Mumbai, Bharat in an inter-religious conference. I told him proudly about the programs that we run and how it attracts hundreds of people. He listened politely and said that the programs that he runs usually have thousands attending them! Later during the conference, he became quite friendly and confided in me a number of his problems. I gave him some advice and techniques. They seem to have worked because he sought me out towards the end of the conference and thanked me. One of the problems he expressed was that he was himself unsure of what he preached to others. I had asked him in surprise, 'How do you then manage to convince them if you yourself are not sure?' His answer was revealing. He said, 'When so many people come to listen to me and pay respect to me, I become convinced that whatever I am saying must be right!'

It is quite easy to brainwash yourself or be brainwashed and still continuously carry the guilt of not having understood.

God cannot be proved by logic. He transcends logic. You need to lose your mind to find Him!

Therefore, any amount of rational arguments will only warm up the environment.

There was once an atheist and a believer in a village who constantly were at loggerheads. The villagers got fed up and told them to sort it out between themselves, once and for all.

The two argued for days. At the end of the argument the atheist declared that he was convinced that there indeed was a God.

Before the villagers recovered from this shock, the believer stood up and said, 'No, I don't agree. I am now fully convinced that there is no God!'

You asked whether Krishna was real. Yes, He was and is!

The Bhagavad Gita did not get scriptural authority on the basis of any proof that Krishna was God. Gita was acknowledged as a scripture of the highest order because of the indisputable truths that it laid out. It did not matter who delivered the dialogue. Anyone who did that delivered from Krishna Consciousness. Therefore, He was Krishna!

A fervent group of Krishna devotees once cornered me after a discourse and heatedly asked me, 'You delivered such a profound discourse about the Gita. However, we understand that you worship Shiva! How is this possible? You are committing sacrilege.'

I said to them that Krishna and Shiva were the same energies, as are other enlightened masters and incarnations.

They were not satisfied. They said I should desist from worshipping Shiva.

I asked them, 'Have you read the Anu Gita?'

They said, 'No, what is it?'

I told them that after the Mahabharata war, when Arjuna was alone with Krishna, he asked Krishna, 'Krishna, I have forgotten what you advised me during the war. Can you tell me again, please?'

Krishna said, 'Oh, you forgot Arjuna! I too have forgotten!'

Arjuna asked in surprise, 'Krishna, how is that possible. You are the greatest master of them all. How can you forget the truths you yourself have established?'

Krishna says simply, 'At that time I was the Ultimate Consciousness. I was Parabrahma Krishna, God incarnate. Now, I am Vasudeva Krishna, the human son of Vasudeva, your friend. So, I do not remember it now.'

What Krishna once again repeated to satisfy Arjuna is the Anu Gita.

I told them that at the level of the Parabrahman, the Ultimate Consciousness that we term as Shiva, Krishna, Buddha and so on, are all the same energy.

Part 4: Bhagavad Gita, Commentary by THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM - Chapter 1 - Shastras, stotras, sutras

One of the elders in the group told me, 'Sir, we thought you were such a young person and therefore probably misguided. However, now you have taught us the truth!'

There is no need for historical proof that Krishna existed or that Gita is considered a scripture because Krishna was God. Gita is Krishna Consciousness. Any one who delivered Gita was Krishna!