I Am Reborn, Age After Age!🔗

4.4 Arjuna said:

‘O Krishna, you are younger to the Sun god Vivasvan by birth.

How am I to understand that in the beginning You instructed this science to him?’

4.5 The Lord said:

Very many births both you and I have passed.

I can remember all of them, but you cannot, O Parantapa!

4.6 Although I am unborn, imperishable and the lord of all living entities,

By ruling My nature I reappear by My own māyā.

4.7 When positive consciousness declines, when collective negativity rises,

Again and again, at these times, I am reborn.

4.8 To nurture the pious and to annihilate the wicked,

To re-establish righteousness I am reborn, age after age.

Krishna starts His message.

Here is a question by Arjuna to which He responds. Krishna delivers the message as a response to Arjuna’s question.

This shows that Arjuna still needs to have the maturity.

He asks, ‘The Sun god is elder to you by birth; he is so much your senior. How am I to understand that in the beginning you instructed this science to him?’

Arjuna and Krishna are almost equal in age. Suddenly, Krishna says that thousands of years ago He gave this science to the Sun god! This is very difficult to understand. Moreover, Arjuna lived with Krishna for a long time. He knows and has seen the human side of Krishna, all of Krishna’s līlā (plays), all of Krishna’s dramas, all of Krishna’s moods. He has seen Him more as a human being. So now, it is very difficult for Arjuna to believe Krishna’s words.

This is exactly the same trouble all disciples undergo. Disciples who live around enlightened masters undergo exactly the same troubles. It is very difficult to understand the Divine descending and walking on the planet earth in human form.

Arjuna struggles to understand. Arjuna is not able to relate. How can the Divine descend? What is happening? How can Krishna declare, ‘Thousands of years ago, I gave this science to Surya?’ It is very difficult to understand.

For example, suddenly if I tell you, ‘A hundred years ago, I was the person who taught all these sciences to some enlightened master!’ How will you feel? It will be very difficult to understand, to grasp, is it not?

If I suddenly make a statement, ‘A hundred years ago, I taught all these things to the masters who were there.’ It is very difficult to believe. And naturally questions will arise.

Here the same thing happens. Arjuna thinks, ‘How can he say this? How can I understand?’ But of course, he has become a little polite. That is why he says, ‘How can I understand?’ He does not say, ‘How can you say this?’

In the second chapter, when Krishna says, ‘Arjuna, go and fight,’ Arjuna asks, ‘How can you say this? How can you tell me to sin?’ But now, he has become more polite. He has understood a little bit of the truth. He has become a little intelligent. He says, ‘How can I understand? Please tell me.’

He is ready to believe, but he wants a little explanation. This is ok. But there are a few people who are prejudiced. They will say, ‘No. We are not bothered. We don’t believe it. We don’t want it.’ In that case, nothing can be done.

Here, Arjuna says, ‘I am ready to believe, but how am I to understand? Please instruct me. Please show me the right thing.’

Always, when enlightened masters descend on the planet earth, whenever they come down, they face this trouble. Again and again and again, they face this trouble. When Ramakrishna declared that one who came as Rama and who came as Krishna, the same person has now come down in the form of Ramakrishna, he was called mad! People did not receive him. People did not respect him. But there were a few qualified people who received his words and transformed their lives. They established the truth of his statement.

See, all philosophies or all movements can be started in two ways. One is the political movement which starts with huge crowds and huge numbers of followers. For the person who leads, the more the numbers in the crowd, the greater the number of persons in attendance, the more powerful he feels and starts making all kinds of statements and claims. These movements start with a huge number, but over a period of time, they slowly dwindle in quality and quantity. Once the founder dies, the movement dies.

The second type of movement is the spiritual mission. When the masters declare the truth, the quantity may not be there, but the quality will be there. Only a few individuals, a few selected individuals, listen to those truths, those proclamations.

When Ramakrishna declared, 'The one who came down as Rama and who came down as Krishna is present here in this body as Ramakrishna,' hardly a few actually heard him! Hardly a few were ready to trust him. The quantity may not have been there, but the quality was certainly there. Those few transformed their own lives. It started as a very slow, small thing, but expanded, exploded into an international mission, a spiritual movement.

When it started, only sixteen disciples were there. Ramakrishna had only sixteen disciples. Today, millions of people worship him as God. Millions of people have realized the truth of the words that he uttered. These spiritual missions start in a very small way, but expand and explode.

Political movements start in a very big way, but slowly die down. When the founder dies, the foundation also collapses. But in spiritual missions, the moment the founder dies, things start happening. It starts expanding.

For a political speech you need quantity. The more the number of people present, the stronger the speech. But for a spiritual discourse, you need quality. The more intense the persons, the more deeper the truths that come out!

For a political person, the inspiration is in numbers. How well was it covered on the television? In how many newspapers have the reports come? It matters to him how many newspaper cuttings he can collect. But for a spiritual person what matters is how many ego-cuttings he can do! How many people's egos can he cut and liberate?

For a political person it is the paper cutting, for a spiritual person, it is the ego-cutting. For a spiritual discourse, what matters is how many people are intense, the quality of the people present. The more intense a person, the higher the level of the truths that come out.

I always tell people, my best discourses are given always to small, close devotees. The best truths are spoken only to a small, close circle. Because when you speak the truth to an intimate group, it will be straight. It will shake the whole being. It will transform your whole life. Those who are not yet ready cannot receive it.

That is why Ramakrishna, whenever he wanted to speak deep truths, he would close the doors and call his monastic disciples and he would speak only to them. He would not speak to the public.

This very Gita is delivered to only one person. When Krishna delivered Gita, only one person heard it. But today, millions and millions, not even millions, billions read and practice it.

For all Hindus, this is the basic book. For a billion Hindus, this is the basic scripture. Only one person heard Krishna. Today the whole world uses it. So, to express the truth, the quality of the person who hears is important, not the quantity of persons.

Now Krishna starts to answer this question.

Let me repeat this beautiful verse:

Bhagavan says, ‘O Arjuna, many, many births both you and I have passed. I can remember all of them but you can’t.’

Krishna first says, ‘We have both passed through many births that I remember, and you do not.’ Then He says, ‘Although I am unborn, imperishable and the lord of all living entities, I reappear by my original māyā, by controlling my nature.’

I think this is the first time He declares his divinity! All this while, Krishna was only playing the role of ācārya (teacher), intellectually convincing Arjuna of the truth and giving him the intellectual knowledge.

For the first time, He opens up. He declares the truth about His nature. He shows the divinity of His nature. I think this is the point where Krishna starts to speak the ultimate truth as it is. Till then, I think He was a little shy to open up to Arjuna!

When a disciple is not ready, you can’t open up, you can’t tell the truth. Now, the disciple is ready. So Krishna opens up.

He says, although I am unborn and my transcendental body never deteriorates and although I am the Lord of all living entities, I still appear in every millennium in my original transcendental form.

Three things we need to understand here. First He says, ‘I am unborn. I never take birth. I am the ultimate Parabrahma (cosmic or divine energy). I am the ultimate energy.’

Krishna clearly declares this. I don’t think any one else has declared so clearly. Even Jesus says, ‘I am the Son of God.’ Here, Krishna straightaway declares the truth. ‘I am God,’ He says.

Of course, it does not mean Jesus is not God. At one point he says the Father and the Son are one and the same. At one point, maybe to some close disciple, he declares, ‘The Father and the Son are one and the same.’ Please be very clear, when the disciple is mature, the master is understood.

Here, straightaway Krishna declares, ‘I am unborn, ajopi, I am unborn, eternal consciousness, eternal bliss, and my transcendental body never deteriorates. You can always relate with me. I never die. I am unborn and I never die.’

One important thing you should know is this: That which never takes birth can never die; that which takes birth, only such can die. Here Krishna declares, I never take birth and I never die. I am the Lord of all living entities.

Somebody asked me, ‘Swamiji, can dead masters teach us? Can we relate with the masters who have left the body, like Paramahamsa Yogananda, Mahavatar Babaji etc.?’ One person came and asked me, ‘If I pray to them, can they show me the path? Can they show me the truth?’

I told him: Be very clear, dead masters are not dead as you think. They are not dead. When they are alive, their presence had a body. When they are dead, their presence has no body, that’s all.

Having a body or not having a body is in no way going to affect their presence. They are available to you always. They are eternally available to you. All you need to do is just turn towards them, that's all. They are eternally available. When they are in their physical body, their presence has got a physical body. When they are no more, their presence has no physical body, that's all. But they are always available. They are alive.

When normal human beings die, the soul leaves the body. In the case of masters, they leave the body! The very wording is different. For a normal person, the soul leaves and we say, the soul left; life has left him. For masters, they leave the body. So having a body or not having a body is in no way connected to their presence. They are available to the planet earth always. They are always available to the whole of humanity.

I always tell people, it is very difficult to understand masters. Because whether they have the body or not, their presence is unchanged.

With intensity, if you reach out, even if they don't have the body, you will be able to relate with them. You can get the message. You will be able to talk to them. You will be able to relate with them.

When you don't have intensity or sincerity, even with a living master you will miss him. With sincerity, even with a dead master, you will be able to have the truth, you will be able to achieve. Without sincerity, even with a living master, you will miss him.

Understand, He says, 'I am the Lord of all the entities. But I still appear in every millennium in my original transcendental form; using my own māyā (Illusion). Because of my māyā, I assume the body and come down. I assume the body and incarnate myself.'

He means that He happens on the planet earth again and again in so many forms to guide the people. Ordinary human beings are in the clutches of māyā or illusion due to which they take birth. But Krishna has māyā itself under His control and takes birth due to His own wish! But again and again we miss Him. We are all conquerors of Buddha, conquerors of Krishna. We are conquerors of Ramakrishna. That is why we are here again and again on this planet earth!

Please be very clear, we conquer them. We conquer Ramana Maharshi. We conquer Ramakrishna. Even they can't do anything to us. That is why again and again we are here. Again and again we miss them. That is why again and again He has to come down. He has to come down again and again to planet earth to lift us, to show us the way, to guide us.

The next statement, I can say, the next two verses, if they are understood, then not only the whole Gita but all the spiritual scriptures can be realized. Here He declares:

Whenever there is a decline in individual consciousness, whenever the collective unconsciousness increases, Dharma samsthāpanārthāya, to establish the righteousness of the eternal consciousness, the science of eternal bliss, sambhavāmi yuge yuge, I myself appear, millennium after millennium.

Only a master like Krishna can declare the truth so clearly.

Here Krishna declares, 'I come down again and again, to set right the wrong.' He keeps the whole thing open for the future. He keeps the generation of enlightened masters open for the future, the possibility of enlightenment open for the future. He keeps the whole science open for the future. Only a courageous man like Krishna can declare this truth.

People come and ask me, 'Swamiji, are there more enlightened masters on planet earth?' I tell them, 'Surely.' There are hundreds of enlightened masters. Don't think I am the only one. There are hundreds and hundreds. I can say, even thousands. Thousands of masters are available.

Only a courageous man can declare the truth as it is. If you are in business, you cannot accept that there are other similar shops in your city. If you own any business, you would not give out the address of similar businesses in the city. Only if you are honest, you can declare, yes, there are so many other things available.

Again and again people ask me this question, 'Swamiji, if I take initiation from you, can I go to another master?'

I tell them: 'Not only can you go, I also encourage that you should go. Pluck flowers from all the beautiful gardens and make a beautiful bouquet for yourself!'

The thing is, the human ego is such, that it needs to be beaten by more than one person for it to die! So go wherever it is possible and learn the best things. Pluck flowers from all the gardens and make a beautiful bouquet for yourself.

Only a courageous person like Krishna can declare the truth; sambhavāmi yuge yuge, which means He keeps the possibility open for the next generation. He keeps the possibility of enlightenment open for planet earth.

This one single idea, if understood, can straightaway make you enlightened.

This verse is a promise; it is deliverance to all of humanity. In science, the principle of entropy states that the energy level of every system, including the universe, degrades with time. So it is with consciousness. Over time individuals start losing their positive consciousness and collective negativity builds up. Of course, this does not imply that every single person becomes evil intentioned, but it does mean that on an average, spirituality, awareness, righteousness and consciousness of individuals deteriorate over time at certain periods of time.

One must understand that the consciousness is always individual. When one is conscious, one accepts all of humanity in the same manner as oneself; yet, each individual needs to be aware of his own consciousness. On the other hand, negativity or unconsciousness can be collective. A whole nation can become collectively unconscious as Germany did under Hitler, and other countries such as Italy and Japan followed.

In history, over many thousands of years, each time such collective unconsciousness has built up, there has been deliverance. It is as though there is a cycle of positivity and negativity, up and down, over time.

In science there may be entropy, but in spirituality there is none. Righteousness is restored eventually. This is Krishna's promise.

Q: Swamiji, this verse ‘paritrāṇāya sādhūnām...’ is one of the most quoted from the Gita. If this were to be true, Krishna should be on this planet all the time and there should be no evil. However, this is not the case. Can you please explain again what this verse means?

Krishna does not say there would be no evil; He says He will be reincarnated again and again to reduce collective unconsciousness and to destroy the evil.

As long as humankind lives upon this planet, both good and bad will exist; both good and evil will exist together. What Krishna talks about here is the excess of bad over good.

In a spiritual sense, from Krishna's point of view, there is no good or bad. There is no evil as such, spiritually speaking. As in Nature, all these seemingly contradictory qualities coexist. What Krishna says to Arjuna is for the consumption of mankind. Mankind has created this differentiation between good and bad, and can only understand behavior in these separate modalities.

When I tell you that spiritually there is nothing good or bad, or that to an enlightened master there is no such difference, what will your first response be?

You will think: ah, now I have it! I can do whatever I want because this master has said that there is nothing either good or bad. I can cheat, I can kill and I can do many things that I thought were bad and that I thought would affect me spiritually.

Please understand that you are as yet in a state where there is a material difference between what is good and what is bad. Your own conditioning makes that differentiation. When you are completely free of that conditioning, that saṁskāra, the very awareness and consciousness that caused the conditioning to disappear will provide you the direction as to what you should do, without any differentiation of good or bad.

In addition, for its own preservation, society lays down rules and regulations, and religions lay down commandments. These are moral codes, not spiritual. They arise from conscience, not consciousness.

When you are in tune with yourself, when you are Self-realized, you shed all your boundaries. You are no longer a spirit bounded by your body, in bondage in your body, but you are a universal spirit, one with the universe. That was the first feeling I had when I had a deep spiritual experience. I could relate to everything around me as myself. There was no separation from anything.

When there is no separation, you cannot think of harming anyone else, because then you will be harming yourself! With this awareness, you do not have to constantly worry about doing good or bad. Your awareness itself will lead you on a path that is right for you as well as for others.

It is the creation of this awareness and the awakening of one’s consciousness that Krishna talks about first. But it is simpler for a mortal to understand this in terms of good and bad, so Krishna elaborates, saying that He will come again and again to protect the good and to destroy the evil.

This destroying the evil is not a one-time job! Otherwise why should Krishna promise that He would come again and again? It is in the nature of Existence to be in many forms, some of which we understand as good and some as bad. Inherently there is no difference.

However, this state of awareness is the realization of one’s true Self, one’s true nature. This is the state that we belong to. Krishna, the ultimate master, out of His infinite compassion, wants us to reach that state. This promise arises out of His compassion to enhance our state and not out of an outraged expression of anger to destroy evil.