A Zen Slap Awakens!🔗

2.1 Sanjaya said,

As Arjuna's eyes overflowed with tears of pity and despair,

Krishna spoke to him thus.

2.2 Krishna said,

Where from has this dejection descended on you at this critical time, Arjuna!

2.3 Do not yield to fear, Partha! It does not befit you.

Drop this faint heartedness and stand up, Destroyer of enemies!

Arjuna was distraught with pity and despair. His pity was for his opposition that consisted of kinsmen, elders, teachers, relatives and friends. He despaired at the thought of what would happen if he did have to kill them. His dilemma was complete and total. He had collapsed in his chariot and his bow and arrow had slipped from his hands.

Lord Krishna allowed Arjuna to exhaust himself, physically, emotionally and spiritually. He listened to him carefully. Krishna wanted to give Arjuna time to open his mind, heart and being to Him, his friend, guide and Master, so that His answers would penetrate Arjuna's very being.

Then He spoke for the first time, as if opening His being directly. Krishna says, 'My dear Arjuna, how have you acquired these impurities? They do not at all befit a man who knows the value of life. They lead not to higher planes but to infamy.'

This verse is connected to the next one.

'O Partha! Do not yield to this degrading impotence. It does not become you. Give up such petty weakness of heart and arise, O destroyer of the enemy.'

I may say that this is the direction of the whole Gita. Krishna is the true Zen Master and does not beat around the bush. Understand that Krishna is not a philosopher and addresses the issue straightaway. A philosopher would have gone on and on, loving his own logic and voice. Philosophers talk only to prove that they know and in the process prove that they are fools. If they keep quiet, people can only suspect that they are in the presence of a fool, but by opening their mouths they prove the suspicion.

Krishna is not a philosopher and He has no time to waste on fools.

He asks Arjuna directly, 'How did such impurities come upon you? They are not for a man like you. They will not lead you to higher planes but only defame you.' In the next verse He asks Arjuna to give up this weakness and, addressing him as 'destroyer of enemy', asks him to arise.

This is a straight Zen response.

A disciple goes to an enlightened Zen Master and asks, 'Master, what is Buddha? How can I become Buddha? Please teach me.'

The Master slaps him hard on his face.

The disciple is shocked, as he expected to receive some kind of meditation technique, a blessing or guidance. It was like going to a swami and asking him how to realize God or atman and receiving a blow in return! But the disciple, being mature, does not speak ill of his Master.

He says, 'Master, I know that you do not do anything without a meaning. Though I am unable to understand the reason for your action, I cannot say it is wrong. Please explain.'

The Master says, 'Fool, you are Buddha. Why do you try to become something you are already? If a horse comes to me and asks how it can become a horse, how to eat grass and drink water, what can I do? You are already that and nothing else needs to be added to you. That's why I slapped you, to awaken you. That's all.'

Similarly, Krishna gives the direction to the whole Gita with this one 'slap'.

Krishna knows Arjuna's problem. Please understand that Arjuna is not depressed because of a spiritual search. It is just that he does not want a solution; he wants only support.

Understand, asking for solutions and asking for support are two different things.

What Arjuna needs is support, not a solution. This is why Krishna does not speak of spirituality in these two verses. Arjuna's problem originates from fear and worry. His Manipuraka (navel center) and Swadhishtana (being center) chakras, energy centers within the body that get locked due to worry and fear, are now locked completely! Because of his fear, he has deep seated complexes, stress and worry. Krishna addresses Arjuna's deep fear straightaway without any philosophy and asks him to give up his foolish weakness and to get up and fight. He does not offer any consolation, just a straightforward scolding, and a slap to awaken him.

If Arjuna had been in a mood of stotra, a devotional surrender that he reaches only later on, these two verses would have served as sutra or techniques for him. If Arjuna had been without fear and expressed full faith and devotion in Krishna, these two verses would have been enough to get him up and going. He would have become enlightened or would have achieved the ultimate just with these two verses.

The entire Gita would have been encapsulated here and there would have been no need to continue. None of us would need to come here for eighteen days!

I spoke to you about sastra, stotra and sutra (wisdom, devotion and technique) in the first chapter.

All three can be a means to enlightenment for people of different aptitudes.

Sastras are the wisdom of scriptural inputs aimed at the intellectual seeker, the one centered at the head. Stotras are aimed at the emotions, at the heart, in the form of devotional songs and stories. Sutras are for the being level people, techniques of meditation and yoga. These are not exclusive, in that one must be practiced to the exclusion of another. The same person may be in a state to receive a stotra today and a sastra tomorrow. At this point, Arjuna is in the state to be intellectually convinced and Krishna employs sastra as the right approach.

Since he was not in the mood of stotra, not yet ready with devotion and faith, Krishna had to create the sastra, or method, to bring him to the stotra state. The whole issue was due to fear plus worry and depression because of this fear.

All our depressions have their roots in anxiety and fear. You need to stand up to them to be rid of them.

A small story:

A presidential candidate was addressing a press conference, 'I am very optimistic about my future.'

The journalist asked, 'Then why do you look so worried?'

The candidate replied, 'My optimism is not warranted. So, I am worried.'

We constantly expect our optimism to be warranted and when we do not get the warranty, we start worrying. All our depression, worry and anxiety are nothing but a deep fear of life and fear of losing something.

There are many levels of fear: fear of losing our wealth and status, fear of losing a limb or our health, fear of losing our near and dear ones and fear of the unknown or death. That is why Krishna says that Arjuna is not behaving as an arya, a word that can be interpreted as a noble man. The term arya is applied here to denote an aware human being, not to a particular race or caste. Vedic literature says that an arya is one who is evolved, cultured, a prince amongst men.

Here Krishna tells Arjuna that he is confronted with all the four fears: fear that he may lose whatever he possesses, that he may be maimed in the war, that he may lose his near and dear ones, and fourth, that he may lose his very life. These fears have in turn led to his worry.

Krishna directly addresses this worry and fear with the sastra, the explanation of wisdom that is directed to the head, the intellect.

Later on in the Gita, in the eleventh chapter, after receiving Krishna’s Cosmic Vision, Arjuna realizes who Krishna truly is. He understands that Krishna is beyond everything and beyond his imagination, his comprehension. He is not surprised any longer that all the deities worship Him and surrender to Him. Krishna then repeats the same words that He says now, after which the Gita ends and Arjuna engages in the war.

These same words uttered by Krishna later on, when Arjuna is in the state of stotra, when he is in a state of pure devotion and faith, become the sutra, the technique of enlightenment for Arjuna. That stage is yet to happen. Since Arjuna is not yet in the devotional state now, these words are only plain wisdom.

Krishna is not a philosopher. All philosophy is an attempt to convince the other to do what the philosopher wants of him. It may be a very slow process, but still a process of trying to convince the other person what to do.

Hitler, in his autobiography says that if a lie is repeated a hundred times, it becomes the truth and if a truth is expressed for the first time, people think it is a lie. Whether something is true or false does not depend on the actual fact, but on how many times it is repeated!

All philosophies, whether they are of communism or religion or politics, are the same. Philosophers invent logical reasons as to why you should follow their words.

Here Krishna is not a philosopher and does not want to create any philosophy.

He tries to give the conclusion directly to Arjuna. However, as Arjuna is not in the mood to receive it because he is not mature enough to assimilate it, Krishna needs to give Arjuna the experience.

There is a beautiful story in the Upanishad:

A disciple goes to the Master and asks, ‘O Master! Teach me atmagnana, knowledge of the inner Self.’

The Master says, ‘Thou art that! Tatvamasi, You are God.’

The disciple, unable to believe this, thinks to himself, ‘How can I be God? I am still afraid of my wife. I have all these problems and a thousand questions!’

Only when the Master proves to him that the Master himself is God, the disciple trusts the Master’s words.

The Master needs to first prove that he is God in order to make you understand that you are God. Here Krishna does the same thing by repeating that He is all of this.

Krishna later explains His glory and that all the devata, the deities, Vedas, the scriptural wisdom, are worshiping at His feet; the whole world is in Him. He makes these incredible statements that would appear egoistic to a normal person. And yet Krishna says all this, even at the risk of being misunderstood. He repeats that He is God to make you realize that you are God.

With authority He states, ‘I am God’ to make you realize that you are God.

You would not believe the words of ordinary people. You need to hear the words from a source of authority that has the right to say them. Here Krishna says the same words that He repeats throughout the entire Gita. But as of now Arjuna is not able to take it all in. It is too much for him to grasp in his present condition.

Once Krishna proves His divinity, Arjuna believes His words and is ready to follow them.

Similarly, when Masters prove their divinity and perform great deeds or miracles, they do not do so for their ego satisfaction. They do them to prove that they are God, so that you believe their words and experience that you are God. This is the reason why Masters repeatedly prove their divinity through expression of their energies.

Bhagavad Gita is not part of the Vedas or Upanishads that are traditionally classified as sacred scriptures, or the sruti which are believed to have had divine origin. Gita is part of an epic, a purana, the Mahabharata. Some even believe that the Gita was a later addition to Mahabharata. Despite all that, Gita and Mahabharata are accepted universally as a scripture by all Hindu scholars. It is the authority with which Krishna is seen to deliver the Gita that makes it a scripture.

‘I am the Divine,’ says Krishna. ‘If you believe in Me, you too shall realize your inner divinity.’

It is this profound and yet simple message, that has resounded so deeply in the hearts, minds and beings of generations of Hindus, in turn establishing the scriptural sanctity of Gita.

A great author wrote a book of just forty pages giving the gist of his philosophy. One reader asked him why the book was only forty pages long. The author replied that if he had the time he would have written a book of only twenty pages!

It requires intelligence to put anything into a clear, simple form or in a nutshell.

To go on and on, not much intelligence is required. Only fools write big volumes! Intelligent people express

the same content in a few words. The less you know of something the more you speak and write about it.

Here all the verses of the Gita are reduced to just two verses by Krishna.

He straightaway addresses and clears the point where Arjuna is stuck, in his need for name and fame or rajas. A man who is centered on satva, goodness, who has neither greed nor lethargy but a neutral attitude, will work out of compassion. A man who is centered on rajas will work only for name and fame. A man who is centered on tamas, lethargy, will work only for sensual pleasures.

Duryodhana works only through tamas, which is why his cruel and gross behavior. Dharmaraja Yudhishtra works on satva, out of compassion. Here Arjuna is centered on rajas, therefore, he is working only for name and fame. This is why Krishna asks him not to work in this way as it would ultimately bring Arjuna a bad name. This is how He straightaway puts His hand on the tumor, the tumor that is the subtle ego working within Arjuna.

Fortunately, Arjuna is not intelligent enough. Or rather he acts as if he is not intelligent enough to understand these words. He has lived with Krishna for more than thirty years and must have intelligence. He puts his questions and addresses his doubts not for himself but for the future generations and for the whole of humankind.

Krishna again comes to the point straightaway. He is not creating a philosophy and does not beat around the bush. He declares, ‘O Arjuna! Lead not into this degrading weakness, do not behave like this. Come out!’

A small story I read in a magazine recently:

There was a person who had a compulsive and obsessive habit of tearing up whatever paper he laid his hands on. His family was worried and took him to Jungians, Freudians and psychoanalysts. They spent a lot of money and tried all possible treatments but nothing worked.

One day they read about a young and innovative psychotherapist in the newspaper and decided to try him. The therapist said he wanted to spend a few minutes alone with the patient. He and the patient simply walked up and down for a few minutes, after which the therapist returned and pronounced that the patient was now cured of his malady and could be taken home.

His family was surprised when they found that he really was cured. Even after a year he was found to be perfectly alright. However, no one knew how the problem disappeared. The family returned to the doctor to express their gratitude. They wanted to know what the doctor had really done to cure him of the problem that others could not solve.

He replied that he had simply asked the patient not to tear any more paper and that if he did so even once more, the patient would be brought to the doctor again, whereupon he would be thrown out of the window!

Most of the time our problems are very simple. We complicate them by analyzing them. When we verbalize and analyze a problem, we complicate it and give power to it. Our problems are not as big as we think they are. When we verbalize, analyze, label and categorize them, we have created a whole new problem that had not existed earlier in our being. This is how psychiatric doctors continue to invent newer diseases!

The more we analyze, the more problems and difficulties we create.

The simple and direct approach of the young doctor solved the problem which all the detailed analysis and lying down on couches did not.

You have only one mind. You can either use it to solve the problem or it will naturally get used to creating more problems. Understand that if you are not solving your existing problems, you will be creating more problems. In the level of the mind, there is no position of simply standing, no status quo – you either climb or fall.

Here Krishna straightaway addresses Arjuna's problem.

Another small story:

A man walks into a bar with his pet pig. The bartender notices that the pig has a wooden leg. He is surprised that a pig is brought into the bar and

also one with a wooden leg. He asks the customer about the pig's wooden leg. The man realizes that he could cash in on the bartender's curiosity and replies that, if he could get a free drink, he would relate the whole story. The bartender agrees.

After the first drink the man says that this is a special pig that saved him, his wife and his family when his house was on fire. The bartender nods but says that he still cannot understand why the pig has a wooden leg. The man replies that he will continue with the story if he gets another free drink.

The bartender agrees. The man says that when he fell into a lake, the pig rushed to his wife, called her and the man was again saved. The bartender is not able to take it anymore. He says he understands that the pig is special but still does not know why it has a wooden leg. The man asks for one more free drink. The bartender agrees to give one last drink.

The man begins yet another story of how the pig once again saved him from a tornado, but the bartender would have no more of it. He catches hold of the man by his neck and demands to know why the pig has a wooden leg.

The man replies calmly, 'Such a special pig! Who could eat it all at once? I'm eating it part by part!'

The man narrated the whole thing as a story that he could have finished in just one line. He must have been a great philosopher!

Here Krishna is not creating any philosophy and gives the answer straightaway in just one line. However, as Arjuna is not mature enough, He has to give an intellectual explanation.

All Western philosophies begin with logical analysis and end in the conclusion. All Eastern processes begin with the conclusion and then give the analysis.

As Eastern Masters are compassionate, they do not want to torture us with all the logic. They give us the first option of grasping the solution if we have the intelligence.

If we do not have the intelligence, they have no other option but to go into detailed explanation and analysis.

They expect us to transform with just the trust in them. When they find that we do not have this qualification in us, they start the regular process.

Here Krishna tries the first method of sudden enlightenment, the immediate liberation, but Arjuna is not mature enough to receive it or comprehend it. So Krishna now starts the process of explaining it to him step-by-step.

There are two ways in which people react to the sanctity and divinity of Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita.

To one set of people, Krishna has no special qualification to be called divine and these people may not even believe in anything such as the Divine. As atheists or agnostics, the only way such people can be convinced is initially through the rationale of the dialogue in the Gita. The dialogue surpasses anything written in any language at any point in time in its clarity and wisdom. The message of Krishna is universal and timeless. Those who do not accept and understand, it just means that as of now it is not their time to accept, understand and transform.

Laws of Nature do not change just because we do not accept and understand them. The Earth was always round and never flat and it revolved always around the sun and not the other way around, even when the societal leaders denied these truths and killed thousands of people for expounding these truths.

There is another class of people who say that there is only Krishna, who is divine and all other divine manifestations have no relevance.

One such group of people came to me after I had spoken about the Gita, very perturbed. They said, 'From what you say, we see that you accept the divinity of Krishna.' I said, 'Yes, I very much do. He is the Poornavataara, the complete Incarnation.'

They complained, 'Then how can you worship Shiva in your ashram? We believe you have a Dakshinamurty temple in your Bidadi ashram in India. How can you do this?'

I asked them, 'Have you read the Anu Gita which is also another part of the Mahabharata?' They said, 'No.'

I then explained to them about Anu Gita. After the war, Arjuna and Krishna are together and Arjuna says, 'Krishna, I do not remember all of what you taught me at Kurukshetra, when you delivered to me the Gita. Can you please enlighten me again?'

Krishna said, 'Oh, you have forgotten, have you? I too have forgotten what I then said!'

Arjuna exclaims, 'Krishna, how is that possible?'

Krishna says, 'At that point I was Parabrahma Krishna. I was Bhagavan. I was the Super Consciousness. I was the Divine. Now, I am Vasudeva Krishna, son of Vasudeva. So, I do not remember what I spoke to you as Parabrahma Krishna. I shall try and remember.'

What he remembered and recounted was Anu Gita.

Krishna, as Parabrahma Krishna, is the Divine Energy, the formless Brahman, the same as Shiva, Vishnu or Devi. He is the Ultimate Truth, the Puroshottama, as are these other manifestations of the same Brahman.

It is only the ignorant cows of Krishna who fight with the equally ignorant monkeys of Rama, forgetting that Rama and Krishna are both the same Energy.

Krishna is no doubt the Poornam, the Whole and the Infinite, as was enunciated in the Upanishads:

That is Infinite. This is Infinite. From that Infinite arises this Infinite.

If this Infinite is taken out of that Infinite, Infinite still remains Infinite.

As the Infinite, the Brahman, Krishna too, is Vishnu, Shiva, and Devi, as well as all other Divine manifestations.

The Ultimate Energy behind all of them has no name and no form; that is the truth.

The constant, repetitive reference to Bhagavan in the Gita is to emphasize this point that Krishna is not just the mere divine charioteer of Arjuna, Parthasarathy, or Kesava, destroyer of the demon Kesin or Madhusudhana, destroyer of the demon Madhu but that He is the Parabrahma Krishna, the Supreme Energy, who is formless and nameless.

This constant repetition is also to reinforce the concept that you too, like Arjuna, are God and no less.

Understanding the divinity of Krishna is a step to accepting and understanding one's own divinity. That awareness is what liberates. That is why Sankara says in Bhaja Govindam, 'Even a little reading of the Bhagavad Gita will liberate you from death.'