Extreme Statement
This text was machine-transcribed from the printed book and may contain errors. Select the words and choose “Report a mistake”.
One who is egoless, whose
intelligence is not of attachment,
though he may kill, is not the slayer
and is never bound by his actions.
Very dangerous statement! Krishna goes to the extreme.
No Master except Krishna can make
such a courageous statement. Krishna
makes a bold statement here. One who
is not motivated by ego, whose
intelligence is not based on attachment,
though he may kill many men in this
world, does not kill nor is he bound
by his actions.
Of course, one who has reached that level of awareness does not think of killing. As long as we have the idea of ‘I’ and ‘mine,’ we attack or kill. When we exclude, we kill. On the other hand, when we surrender, we learn to include everything.
One thing we need to understand. We kill others only when we feel insecure. We do not need courage to make war. We only need cowardice. Only cowards go to war. They are afraid for themselves and kill others. To kill others, we do not need courage. We simply need cowardice. The person who is courageous never kills others. He is established in non-violence. Only cowards continuously try to hurt others. A courageous person does not try to hurt others. That is the reason Krishna makes this bold statement — one who is not entangled in ego, even if he kills, does not kill.
Krishna emphasizes here: May you be liberated from entanglement. May you liberate yourself from ego. He does not ask Arjuna to kill. One problem is that people give their meaning to words. They have their own understanding.
A small story:
A Zen monk asked the Master a question and was kicked out of the monastery.
Another monk asked, ‘What happened? What did you ask the Master?’
The first monk said, ‘I asked if I could smoke while I meditated. Master kicked me out.’ The second monk called him a fool and asked him to wait. He went in to see the Master and came out ten minutes later smoking a cigarette. The first monk asked him what the secret was.
The second monk said: 'I asked Master if I could meditate while I smoked!'
We must know how to present our argument. But here, do not give your own meaning to what Krishna has said. He is asking you to be liberated from ego. The person who has realized that he is the part of a whole will not kill even if he kills. Grasp the proper meaning of this. Krishna asks you to experience the truth about yourself. He does not ask you to kill people. Recognize the correct meaning. Krishna inspires you to realize the truth, not to kill.
A small story:
A Jew, an Italian and a Polish man applied for a position at the police academy. First the Jew was interviewed.
He was asked, 'Who killed Jesus?'
The Jew said, 'The Romans killed Jesus.' He was asked to join duty the next day and was sent out.
Next the Italian entered and was asked the same question. He replied, 'The Jews.' He was asked to report to work the next day.
The Polish man came next and was asked the same question. He replied, 'I do not know.' The officer gave him one day to think about it and to come back with the answer.
The man returned home and his wife asked him, ‘What happened during the interview?’ The husband replied, ‘I got the job. The first day itself I have been given a murder case to solve!’
We can give whatever meaning we want to words. Do not give the wrong meaning to Krishna’s words. Krishna asks you to liberate yourself from your ego. He does not ask you to go around killing people. Understand the truth behind the words. Only a Master like Krishna can make such a courageous statement.
Krishna uses killing as an extreme example to make Arjuna think. The focus is on non-attachment arising out of lost ego. When one no longer feels the need to survive, anything that one does is without attachment and without expectation. When a person is in that state, he is truly in tune with Existence. If such a person destroys, it is similar to the destruction caused by nature, which happens at a different frequency and understanding level as I explained earlier.
Krishna makes this statement to drive the point home to Arjuna that it is his duty to stand up and fight instead of running from the battlefield.
Q: Master, your disciples say that you burn them. This makes us afraid. What does it mean?
Of course, my disciples are right. I don't know in what context they said this, but they should not let out these business secrets.
When you wish to be a gazer, looking at and enjoying my form, I allow that and give you brain candy in addition to the eye candy that you take yourself!
When you become serious, when you see meaning behind my words and when you believe that I can help you move forward spiritually, you become closer to the state of a disciple. I start advising you to drop my form and focus on the formless.
When you become a disciple, I initiate you as a Nithya Healer. You become my responsibility. Your spiritual progress is no longer your responsibility alone; it is mine, too. I can no longer smile and let you go your way. All spiritual progress is about dropping the ego, and the Master's primary job is to remove that ego. It is surgery and Master is the surgeon.
Please understand this clearly. If you stay with me for sometime, you will know that I am not a shanta swarupa, a calm and smiling visage, all the time. My disciples run from place to place while I shout instructions to them. Outsiders are sometimes shocked at words that I use. ‘How can a Master say such things?’ they wonder. They have not read or understood the Gita; that is why.
When I am seemingly aggressive, that is just the picture I present. Inside me there is no emotion or aggression. It is not even satva. A Master goes beyond the three gunas. He is a trigunarahita. He transcends the three attributes of satva, rajas and tamas.
Yes, my disciples may have told you that I burn them; yet I am sure they told you that with pride and love. Otherwise why would they stay with me? I don't force them. They see the change and transformation that happens within them when their ego drops and bliss rises within. Why would they want to leave? Very soon they understand my shouting, anger and all this burning is a superficial mask meant for their progress. They understand that compassion drives the surgery.
In fact, I tell them openly, and it is a danger for me, that the only thing that makes me sad is when a disciple leaves me. It does not happen often, but it happens. It does not happen because they are unhappy that I shout, but because the path takes them from what they think they want. I feel sad because their beings brought them to me after having had the experience of running away in previous bodies. The spirit, the being, hopes that at least in this lifetime it will be redeemed through a Master.
There is nothing to fear from me or any Master. The Master is driven by one thing: compassion for you. He needs nothing in return. There is nothing that you can give him, which is of any value to him. His compassion for you is totally unconditional.