26. To Know Me Is To Be Liberated (4.9-4.12)

A very strange statement. Kṛṣṇa says, 'One who understands the nature of My appearance and activities will be liberated from this birth and death cycle.' He says, 'Understand my transcendental nature of birthlessness and deathlessness. and you will also achieve the same transcendental nature.' If you understand that I don't take the body, you will not take the body either. If you understand I am liberated, you will realize that you are also liberated.' How can it be?

He says, bhūtānām īsvaro'pi**—I am the Lord of all living beings!** A mere cowherd boy from Briṇdavan says this! Kṛṣṇa lived such an ecstatic, spontaneous life, it is not easy to realize who He is! Kṛṣṇa is revealing His truth to all of us. When He says, 'I am God, I am the Ultimate,' He shows us the possibility, 'When I can achieve, why can't you? It is like a seed is always afraid of rupturing to become a tree. But the tree tells the seed, 'Unless you open, I cannot happen.' It is necessary to give courage to the seed. Same way, Kṛṣṇa gives the courage of authenticity to us, 'You can also can experience the Truth and become God, like Me.

The Secret of Birth and Death

Kṛṣṇa is giving the ultimate teaching.

janma karma ca me divyam evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ I tvaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti so 'rjuna II 4.9 It means: if you understand the secret of My birth and death, you will be liberated from birth and death, Arjuna. How? Let us see the secret of the birth and death of Kṛṣṇa.

Now, just as Kṛṣṇa made the statement, now I am making the same statement to you all again. I am going to speak on something beyond logic. It is pure experience. Before speaking, I take an oath: With integrity and authenticity, whatever I speak is the truth.

Whenever the ultimate truth is uttered, something beyond our logic is uttered, we never receive it completely. If you can, receive it.

The moment the physical body dies and relaxes, that very moment the soul leaves the body. At that time, what you perceived as the highest pleasure in your life surfaces, and you decide your next birth based on that desire. Nobody else decides your birth. It is simply you who chooses. It is clearly the conscious decision of your soul.

The whole secret is this. Ordinary man takes birth based on fear and greed. That is why his whole life is driven by fear and greed. Enlightened Masters, Incarnations assume the body out of love and compassion. That is why Kṛṣṇa beautifully says, 'ātma māyayā, because of My own energy, I take birth. Out of My love and compassion, I land on this planet Earth.'

The next question is: How can we be liberated by knowing this truth? Understand, when I say the words 'birth or death', I don't mean just dying at the end of life. I mean, every night's sleep is your birth and death. Every night when you go to sleep, you die! When you come back in the morning, you take birth one more time. That moment, when you take the body matters. These are basic, subtle, mysterious secrets of altering the whole consciousness.

Incarnation Happens out of Love and Compassion

An Incarnation assumes the body out of love and compassion. He comes back every morning just to pour His compassion out to the whole world. If you alter your thoughts at the time of waking up, you will alter your whole consciousness.

When you get up, let the first thought be of love and compassion. Get up only to express your life in bliss. Don't think Life is your birthright. Birth itself is not your right; it is a pure gift. So every day is a blessing. When you get up, assume the body with this gratitude to the Divine. The quality of your whole consciousness will change.

Here I am giving you the straight technique to become Kṛṣṇa, an Incarnation. If you assume the body out of greed or fear, you are a man. If you assume the body out of love and compassion, you are an Incarnation, you are Divine. Kṛṣṇa gives us a technique to attain Him, to experience janma karma ca me divyam (4.9). If we are able to live, free from the attachments, then we can be absorbed in Him, and attain Him. Kṛṣṇa gives a technique to cut these kārmic bonds and realize the reality.

Kṛṣṇa offers a way to be in His space of completion. He says, 'Be drowned in Me, man-mayā mām upāśritaḥ; you will have no anger, no fear. In this manner, you can be purified and realize Me, pūtā mad-bhavām āgatāḥ (4.10).' He gives the assurance that having followed this path, many have achieved Realization. He is not saying, 'if you do this, maybe something good will happen.' No! 'Do it, you will achieve! Many people have done so and have realized Me, bahavo jñāna tapasā (4.10).' Completion directly liberates you from the karmas; completion directly leads you to experience the truth, the reality of life!

Here, Kṛṣṇa reaffirms what He has promised earlier, that—He will take care of the need of every one of His devotee. Only the most compassionate being who cares and loves all, will make this statement.

Be Unaffected By Action (4.13-4.16)

Now we come to the community system. Kṛṣṇa says, 'I have created the four communites as per the distribution of the three guṇas or attributes.' Guṇa means 'attribute' or 'quality' that we are born with. There are three basic guṇas: satva or purity, rajas or activity and tamas or inactivity. Listen, Kṛṣṇa uses the words, 'the distribution of the three guṇas.' He does not say, 'depending upon birth.' He says, 'Based on the guṇa, I decide his varṇa, his community' The varṇa system was four-fold. Brāhmaṇas, the scholars and priests. Kṣatriyas, the soldiers and kings. Vaiṣyas, the business community. Śudras, the workers.

Kṛṣṇa states that only the one who transcends these three guṇas can reach His state, the higher levels of consciousness. To reach Kṛṣṇa one has to be a triguṇa rahita, beyond the three guṇas. Then, one becomes a non-doer, no-attribute person.