Only in This Way Can🔗

You Reach Me

Even the celestials are forever aspiring to see this Form.

11.53 The four-armed Form that you have seen with your transcendental eyes cannot be understood simply by study of the Vedas, nor by undergoing penances or charity or worship;

One cannot see Me as I am by these means.

11.54 My dear Arjuna, only by undivided devotional service can you understand Me as I am, standing before you, being seen directly.

Only in this way can you reach Me.

11.55 My dear Arjuna, one who is engaged entirely in My devotional service, free from attachment, full of love for every entity, surely comes to Me.

This statement coming from the mouth of Krishna may be taken as the simple, direct Truth.

Krishna now appears in front of Arjuna first in His four-handed beautiful Divine Form that Arjuna is comfortable with, and finally as Vasudeva Krishna, in His gentle human form that Arjuna is so familiar with.

But the familiarity ends there. Having seen what Krishna really is through His Divine Form of Narayana, with four arms bearing the discus and mace, and also in His terrifying Cosmic Form as mahakala, Arjuna now has an understanding of the unlimited magnitude of the personality in front of him.

In whatever form Krishna now appears, this

understanding would remain with Arjuna. It is said that when Krishna was born to Devaki, He presented to her and Vasudeva, His father, His form with four hands to comfort them in their captivity, and later changed it to the human form.

Arjuna has now seen Krishna in all His forms. The true Universal Form of virata roopa or vishwaroopa, that Arjuna found fearsome; the beautiful, much gentler, adorable form with four hands (bearing mace and discus in two hands, and the other two hands signifying protection and the giving of boons), and finally back to the human form that Arjuna has always known.

Krishna says even the great sages, the enlightened Masters have not seen the sights that Arjuna has seen. That is very true. Enlightened Masters cannot see visions. When an enlightened being sees another enlightened being, it is in the energy form. To be able to see the gross physical form, both need to readjust their frequencies.

When one of my devotees saw Mahavatar Baba in the Himalayas, she saw Him in the human form. Normally I would not be able to do that. I can only see his energy form. A devotee is able to see the form as physical and real since the Master readjusts His frequency to the visionary capacities of the devotee, or as in the case of Arjuna, gives him divine vision to perceive the Cosmic Form.

For other people, no amount of spiritual practices and knowledge can make this happen. This is the space of bhakti, pure devotion.

Ramakrishna says about one's relationship to a Master: ‘The love of a chaste wife for her husband, the attachment of a miser to his hoarded wealth, the craving of a pleasure seeker for sensual pleasures, all these rolled into one and directed towards the Master is true bhakti, devotion.’

Krishna concludes this chapter with a clear direction of what a devotee should do to reach Him. It is as simple as 1, 2, 3.

‘Work for Me,’ He says, ‘work for My mission. Surrender to Me as the Supreme with no reservations. Have no attachment to whatever you do, leave the results to Me, surrender the fruits of your action to Me. Look upon everyone as your own Self, without dislike and hatred.’

What Krishna says here is very significant. ‘Work for Me,’ He says. ‘He who works for Me comes to Me.’ All disciples and devotees must understand this. Devotion is not about keeping a statue or a photo and praying to it. You can be a gazer all your life and nothing will come out of it. What is needed in addition are effort and sincerity in action that are in tune with what the Master teaches.

I tell my disciples:

‘If you sit and gaze at me and feel joyful seeing my form, you are chasing me. At best you get eye candy and brain candy, sweet words and a sweet form that makes you feel happy. Then you think I will be leaving soon and feel unhappy. You miss the present moment of my being with you and speculate with regret on my absence that may follow.

'If instead, you work for my Mission, spreading my word and philosophy, I shall chase you. I shall always be with you, wherever you are. You do not even need to come to me. I shall come to you.'

May the blessings of the Supreme Lord be upon you all!

Q: Master, the vision Krishna gave Arjuna, is it the same as what Christianity and other religions describe through the word Grace? It is such a beautiful word brimming with meaning. Can you please elaborate?

Ma, Grace is one of the greatest mysteries of life. Grace just happens; it can never be created. Grace is the flowering of our being, just the way a lotus opens up to the sun. It can never be forced, never just imagined.

Please understand, when our inner awareness rises to its peak, we become silent, we become compassionate, we become blissful. When this happens in us unbidden, the total effect within our mind-body is Grace, and this Grace radiates from every cell, every pore of our system.

The individual does not have to be beautiful by dictionary definition. It is not external beauty. This beauty that comes from within is Grace.

Let us look at a chimney lamp with a flame lit inside. Till the flame is lit, we look at the outer glass covering. We say, 'He is handsome, she is ugly', etc. All we see is the outer cover. Then the lamp is lit. We then see the beauty of the flame. That is where real beauty is. That is

Grace, the inner flame, the true inner beauty. The light radiates throughout the mind-body and then the material mind-body matters no more. There is a beautiful inner aura that surrounds us.

Grace is so misunderstood. It is not outward beauty as we think. It is always from within. Our words will no longer be just words, they will be music. Our anger will be energy. Our laughter will be ecstasy.

Grace happens when we trust Existence. In the space where there is no mind and no thoughts, Grace just descends. It will surround us. It will follow us.

When Arjuna was ready, when his mind turned silent finally, Grace descended on him from the Supreme Lord. There was nothing that he did, that he needed to do. When he was ready, it just happened. That is the way it works with all Masters. When we are in tune with them, their Grace descends on us. We are then a different person. We are indeed reborn.

Just be patient and wait. When we are ready Grace will come.

MEDITATION:

I think it is now time for us to meditate to experience what Arjuna is seeing. Once again the three points:

Is it possible to experience Krishna Consciousness? Yes, it is possible.

What is the qualification? Our being present here is enough.

Now all we need to do is put our whole consciousness intensely into the meditation.

The meditation will take at least 20 minutes. If you feel you cannot or do not want to sit for 20 minutes, you are free to leave.

If you can do so, we shall enter into the meditation. Please don't leave in between. Please sit straight and close your eyes. I shall guide you step by step.

Pray intensely to the Parabrahma Krishna, Universal Consciousness, in whatever name you know, in whatever form you know. Pray to that Energy to give a glimpse of His Being to you, a glimpse of the experience that Arjuna received and which all the enlightened Masters experienced.

Pray to the Universal Energy, It responds to your thoughts. Don't think your prayers are dead words. They are living communication.

Inhale and exhale as slowly as possible and as deeply as possible. Concentrate and bring your attention between your eyebrows, on your Ajna chakra. Slowly, but very deeply concentrate on your Ajna Chakra. Without forcing yourself, put your awareness naturally on your Ajna Chakra.

Slowly start visualizing the whole Universe moving inside your head. Feel this clearly inside your head.

The space that is in front of you, in your inner space, the whole Universe is moving. See the sun, moon and all the planets. Visualize this clearly, intensely. Slowly relax the body, be one with the Universal Consciousness. Feel the experience of being one with the Universe.

You are seeing clearly the sun, moon, stars and planets. Just disappear into the Universal Consciousness. Forget your name, your form, all the conditionings, your profession, your gender and your country, everything about yourself. Forget your identity and see the whole Universe intensely. Just see the moving Universe intensely, all the planets, the stars, all the suns, moons.

Disappear into the Universal Consciousness. Lose the identity, the root cause of all the thoughts; let it disappear into the Universal Consciousness. Experience the bliss, the fulfilling bliss of the whole Universe. Expand and disappear into that Universe.

Dissolve into the Universal Consciousness. Be in nithyanandam, eternal bliss!

Thus ends the eleventh chapter named Vishvaroopa- Darshana Yoga, Vision of the Cosmic Form, of the Upanishad of the Bhagavad Gita, the scripture of Yoga dealing with the Science of the Absolute, in the form of the dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna.