Bhagavad Gita Chapter 7

SPIRITUALITY iS A LUXURY

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The person who approaches Me out of love and gratitude, is the best person, for I am dear to him and he is dear to Me.' By this one verse, Kṛṣṇa ends the whole conversation, the whole concept Kṛṣṇa says, 'Starting at different levels is ok, but don't stop there."

We can start or take off from any level. However we should not stop and stagnate there. It is like failing to proceed to the second standard from the first.

It is as if we want to stay in the same cozy, familiar level.

It takes many lifetimes to understand and achieve this maturity. A common saying is, ‘As many Masters, so many paths.’

However Swamiji says, ‘As many disciples, so many paths!’ The Master may utter the same truth to his disciples, yet each understands and interprets in his or her own way.

They all approach the Divine, but from different planes. Hence the attitude, the context with which one approaches matters how one experiences the Divine.

Here Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Out of these, the wise is always devoted to Me. He is the best person.’ To start with, you can start at any level, yet you must strive to reach the Ultimate. And please don’t think, ‘Oh! Kṛṣṇa says it will take many lives; let me take some more lives and become mature.’ No! If you can enter into the knowledge this moment, the experience can happen to you this very moment. You don’t need to postpone. Every moment is a new birth for you and every moment is death. The outgoing breath is death, and the incoming breath is birth. So be very clear, every moment you die and take birth. This moment can be a new birth for you. The person who understands this truth takes a new birth.

Kṛṣṇa says: ahaṁ sa ca mama priyaḥ—
He is dear to Me, and I am dear to
him. He is in Me and I am in him.
Kṛṣṇa says beautifully that He is in you
and you are in Him.
The moment you understand this
ultimate Truth, the moment you
approach the Divine with the right
attitude, you become the Divine.
All you need to do is chang
your attitude. Over!
Change your inner space and the
whole thing is done

One important thing. The Master or the Divine is in you only when you engage yourself in enriching service to Him. When you devote yourself to the divine mission, you become a devotee. That is when you become dear to Him. Your worship is no longer selfish. It is towards the mission of the Divine, in whatever form.

In the words of the SPH Stop sitting in front of me, gazing and waiting for words to drop. Work for my mission. Enrich yourself and others by helping me to transform people. As long as you sit and gaze, you chase me. When you work for my mission, I chase you. I shall always be with you.

There are seven seven steps in spiritual progress—

Go around many temples, perform many rituals, pilgrimages, etc.

Do rituals by yourself

Concentrate and pray to one God instead of rituals

Chant verses in praise of God

Instead of chanting, visualize His form and meditate upon it

Instead of meditating on any form, fall into that same consciousness, realize that the form and your soul are one and the same, that God and the soul are one and the same

Experience reality! Don’t think these seven steps will be done in one lifetime.

Only a person who has understood, after many, many births and deaths, who has matured, who has enough knowledge, surrenders to Me, surrenders to the living Master, says Kṛṣṇa. with you.

In India kids play with wooden dolls. For one doll, they will drape a sāri and say, ‘This is mother.’ They will dress another in a dhoti and call it father, then brother, and so on. They say, ‘Mother is cooking. Father is going to office,’ and place the father doll in a small car. And then, they will say, ‘Sister is going to school.’ They will make cry sounds as though the sister cries not wanting to go to school. This seems like a game for kids.

But please understand, you play the
same game too in your life.
You catch somebody and say, ‘You are
my mother, you are my father, you are
my wife, you are my husband, you are
my son, and you are my brother.’
And if that doll doesn’t behave
according to your frame or your image,
you say, ‘It’s not a good doll,’ and you
throw it away and cry.

In the same way, when somebody
doesn’t behave according to your
frame, you feel they hurt you.
You want all the people in your life to
play their role the way you want
them to play.

When that doesn’t happen, you feel
hurt. Only a person who is a little
mature thinks, ‘What am I doing?
How many times will I do this same
psychodrama?’

Kṛṣṇa says, ‘One who understands that the cause of all causes is Me, realizes the ultimate divine. He realizes thus, ‘How many times will I play the same drama? How many times will I make the same mistakes?’

Until this realization, the whole thing is repeated again and again without end, without the experience.’ ‘The person who has understood, who has knowledge of this truth, surrenders unto Me, surrenders to the Master, an enlightened being, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all there is. Such a great soul is rare.

Only if you go with an attitude of love and gratitude, with maturity, only then do you see a living enlightened Master. The moment you see an enlightened being as He is, you will become enlightened. There’s no doubt about it.

GOALS:

Help the children understand
the seven different levels of
approaching God, the five
attitudes with which we relate
with a Master or God, and the
four types of people Kṛṣṇa says
come to Him. Encourage them
to understand what makes them
dear to the divine, and how rare
it is to find great souls that
connect to the Master.

ASSESSMENTS

What is an important difference between prayer and meditation?

Name some of the different kinds of people who approach the Master or God.

Who are the four types of people in the community system?

How many paths are there between disciple and master?

What does Kṛṣṇa say the wise people do that makes them the best people?

How should we experience every moment, each outgoing breath and each incoming breath?

What do you need to do for your worship to no longer be selfish?

ART OF THE DAY

ART OF THE DAY:

DRAW THE MASTER

MATERIALS NEEDED:

Paper

Colored pens Photos or a slide show of different images of Kṛṣṇa, or have a Kṛṣṇa deity

PROCEDURE

Show the photos of Kṛṣṇa. Then encourage the children to draw the Master, Kṛṣṇa, based on how they like to see Him, to remember Him.

INFERENCE

The moment you approach the Divine with the right attitude, you become the Divine

Photograph of a person dressed as Krishna

ACTIVITY OF THE DAY

ACTIVITY OF THE DAY:

HOW DO YOU APPROACH THE DIVINE?

MATERIALS NEEDED:

Small pieces of paper with one item from this list written on each paper:

❖ People who approach Kṛṣṇa out of greed ❖ People who approach Kṛṣṇa out of fear People who approach Kṛṣṇa out of worry ❖ People who approach Kṛṣṇa for name and fame People who approach Kṛṣṇa out of jealousy and comparison ❖ People who approach Kṛṣṇa out of ego, to strengthen their ego ❖ People who approach Kṛṣṇa out of gratitude.

Dāsa Bhāva—seeing God as a lord or master and oneself as a servant

Vātsalya Bhāva—seeing God as a divine child

Sakha Bhāva—seeing God or the master as a friend

Mātṛ Bhāva—seeing God or the master as father or mother

Madhura bhāva—seeing God as a beloved

People who are distressed,i.e., the working class or śūdra People who desire wealth, i.e., the business people or vaiśya Inquisitive people who continuously enquire, continuously ask, ‘Tataḥ kim? Tataḥ kim? Tataḥ kim?’ (What next?), i.e. a kṣatriya People who search for knowledge of the Absolute, the brāhmaṇa

Procedure

Children take turns to take one
paper. They don't show it to
anyone (for the younger
children help them read their
paper without letting the others
hear).. They then need to act
their role in silence and the
other children guess the hidden
word.

Inference

All come to Kṛṣṇa, all reach
Kṛṣṇa, but from different levels.
From different levels all go to
the same God, but they will not
experience Him in the same
way.

WORKSHOP OF THE DAY

[Figure: Portrait of Nithyananda]

WORKSHOP OF THE DAY: VAAKYARTHA SADHAS - STRIVE TO REACH THE ULTIMATE

Hold Vaakyartha sadhas on: “Every moment is a new birth for you and every moment is death. The outgoing breath is death, and the incoming breath is birth. So be very clear, every moment you die and take birth. This moment can be a new birth for you. The person who understands this truth takes a new birth. Conclusion: The Master may utter the same truth to his disciples, yet each understands and interprets in his or her own way. They all approach the Divine, but from different planes