Introduction
In this series, a young enlightened Master, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM comments on the Bhagavad Gita.
Many hundreds of commentaries of the Gita have been written over the years. The earliest commentaries were by the great spiritual masters such as Sankara, Ramanuja and Madhva, some thousand years ago. In recent times, great masters such as Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Ramana Maharishi have spoken from the Gita extensively. Many others have written volumes on this great scripture.
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's commentary on the Bhagavad Gita is not just a literary translation and a simple explanation of that translation. He takes the reader through a world tour while talking about each verse. It is believed that each verse of the Gita has seven levels of meaning. What is commonly rendered is the first level meaning. Here, an enlightened master takes us beyond the common into the uncommon, with equal ease and simplicity.
To read THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's commentary on the Gita is to obtain an insight that is rare. It is not mere reading; it is an experience; it is a meditation.
Sankara, the great master philosopher said:
'A little reading of the Gita, a drop of Ganga water to drink, remembering Krishna once in a while, all this will ensure that you have no problems with the God of Death.'
Editors of these volumes of Bhagavad Gita have expanded upon the original discourses delivered by THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM through further discussions with Him. For ease of understanding for English speaking readers, and to cater to their academic interest, the original Sanskrit verses in their English translation have been included as an appendix in this book.
This reading is meant to help every individual in daily life as well as in the endeavour to realize the Ultimate Truth. It creates every possibility to attain nithyananda, eternal bliss!
No Questions, Only Doubts
Some comments on this chapter:
Please reformat the gita verse on pg 35.
Only Krishna speaks in Chapter 15 of the Bhagavad Gita. Arjuna does not utter a word. Arjuna's inner chatter has been silenced. As a result, his questions have disappeared.
Krishna expounds upon who He is and what He is. This chapter is traditionally titled Purushottama Yoga, Yoga of the Supreme Self. Krishna unveils the reasons why He is Purushottama, Supreme amongst Beings and explains that what He has imparted to Arjuna is the most profound secret. Krishna is convinced that Arjuna is ready to receive the Truth.
Arjuna has settled into his Self. His confusions have disappeared; questions have dissolved due to his cosmic experience in Viswarupa Darshan Yoga and his direct spiritual experience. He has achieved the depth of knowledge and clear understanding required to internalize whatever Krishna has taught him so far. He has achieved the intensity of spiritual experience. He is a new being.
With the revelation of Krishna's cosmic form, Arjuna has awareness of his own part in the Collective Consciousness. This experience has put him in a devotional mood. This devotion is not merely towards Krishna, but through Krishna, to all of humanity. Arjuna speaks and listens on behalf of humanity and not for himself.
Arjuna doesn't have any more intellectual questions. He has reached a point where he is totally ready to receive Krishna. He has moved forward from a state of thoughtfulness, where he is confused and full of questions, to a no-thought state, a no-mind state where questions disappear.
As long as we have questions, we will not receive the answer. Questions are about defending our prejudice and defending our limited understandings. Questions act as a barrier between knowledge and us, between the Master and us. All great Masters, including Buddha and Lao Tse, had an aversion to questions.
Masters convey their experience. It is an energy transmission that occurs. To convey experience in words denies the experience. Once verbalized, the experience loses meaning. Lao Tse says, 'If it is really Truth that was experienced, it cannot be communicated. If it can be communicated, it is not the Truth.'
A Tamil saint once said, 'That which is known cannot be communicated; that which is communicated is not known.'
Krishna is different. He is engaged in a dialogue with Arjuna for the benefit of mankind to resolve those conflicts and doubts that arise in all humans. As the super-conscious Godhead, He takes responsibility to resolve Arjuna's confusion.
Arjuna's questions arose out of confusion. As a warrior, a kshatriya, Arjuna was accustomed to killing. His confusion on that battlefield of Kurukshetra was not about killing per se; rather it was about killing kinsmen, teachers and friends. Arjuna's confusion did not arise from a principle of non-violence; if it had, it is doubtful that Krishna would have persuaded him to fight.
Arjuna's confusion, depression, doubts and questions arose from his ego, his feeling of 'I' and 'mine'. The warriors assembled in front of him, those men who had to fight to kill or be killed were kith and kin. They were not strangers. It was possessiveness, not non-violence that created confusion in Arjuna's mind.
Arjuna's illusion caused confusion. His view that these warriors assembled in front of him were relatives, teachers and friends meant that he had no societal right to kill them. As a warrior, Arjuna had no qualms or moral issues about killing people. Therefore, the violence of his ego, the violence born out of possession acted as a barrier; it was not a moral principle of non-violence.
One at a time, Krishna answered Arjuna's questions. The power of a Master is such that an answer to one question effectively silences many others that would have normally followed. Arjuna's inner chatter slows down and almost completely stops at the point of his Divine visionary experience of the vishwarupa darshan described in Chapter 11.
What remains with Arjuna are not questions that he has for himself, but doubts that he would like to clear on behalf of mankind. These questions now have a completely different focus. They do not pertain to what he should do or not do. After seeing Krishna's Cosmic Form, his questions are about the nature of the Divine Krishna and how to approach Him. Krishna now explains to Arjuna what He is and how to reach Him. Krishna is convinced that Arjuna is through with his intellectual questions. What remain are only doubts.
Doubt means a person is ready to digest the Master, receive the Master, and imbibe the Master. Whatever word comes out of the Master clears doubt. Doubt makes the Master express himself. Questions make the Master close himself. Almost all questions are violence.
Words can be categorized into two streams. One stream consists of questions, another of doubts. A question means violence; it is arrogance to express that we know something or to defend what we know as truth. Most of the time we ask questions to show that we know something. People often ask me big questions.
They ask, 'Master, the Brahma Sutra says Brahman is beyond comprehension. He is beyond understanding and beyond intellect. Is that right?'
The purpose of this statement is to show that he has read Brahma Sutra. He has understood. This is not a question. There is no quest in it.
Doubt without quest is question. Question with quest is doubt. Questions do not seek truth; doubts do.
Man cannot handle too much truth. He can handle half-truths. Beyond that, truth starts transforming him. He feels that the ground he is standing on is moving away. None of us wants to know the truth. If truth is given honestly, only a few will be willing to listen. People become frightened the moment honest truths are given. Truth frightens them. So, they question the truth.
One western philosopher wrote beautifully, 'Please don't take lies away; let man live on them, live with them.'
To have one's lies taken away is too much to bear. These lies are the fundamentals upon which one lives. Lies are the basis upon which we are living and lying. Lies comfort us; truth threatens us.
Why do we wear makeup, dye our hair and dress up? We do not want to see the truth, to face the fact that we have become old. We cannot accept the truth of our aging; we pretend, fantasize and lie. Why do we dress up in a colorful way, when we know that we are hiding the true Self within ourselves? We know that we are not what we show ourselves to be.
We hide the truth in numerous ways. Why do we have so many social courtesies? We respect each other. For social courtesies, we do many formalities. We are taught from childhood to say 'please' and 'thank you,' irrespective of whether we mean it, irrespective of whether the situation demands it, rather because social etiquette says so. Whenever we meet someone, we say 'It's nice to meet you,' even though we may intensely dislike the person.
Even I am sometimes forced to play this game. When people initially meet me, when they do not know me well, it is best for me to be socially polite to them. Otherwise they get hurt. They are not ready to face the Truth. Whatever their words expressed to me may be, their mind is not ready to accept the Truth. It will be too harsh. So I offer them brain candy. Why disturb them from their socially comfortable situation when they are not ready to receive?
If we really feel 'nice,' our whole body, our being shows it. Must we say 'It's nice to meet you,' for the other person to understand that we are happy to meet him? Our whole body language, smile, our sheer pleasure of meeting that person makes that obvious. We don't need to use words.
The more civilized a country or people believe themselves to be, the less they express the truth of their feelings naturally. When someone smiles, the smile comes from the lips. It is plastic. The smile never touches the
eyes. The eyes never smile, nor does the heart. Laughter emanates and stops at the mouth. True laughter comes from the belly. When a person truly laughs with the feeling coming from his stomach, people stare as if he is guilty of misconduct, guilty of expressing the truth of his feelings. Laughter also disturbs people, just like truth.
We know that the truth is something else. We dare not face the truth. We feel that we cannot afford to be truthful in verbal language as well as body language. The truth straightaway gives us enlightenment. It transforms us.
The moment someone honestly imbibes or catches a single point of truth or single dimension of truth, it does wonders.
Vivekananda says beautifully, 'Even if you memorize each book in all the libraries of the world, it will not help you except to increase your ego over the bookish knowledge you acquire. Take one idea and imbibe it in your being, experience it. Your life will be transformed by a single idea, just one idea!'
A book from Tamilnadu, South Bharat describes the life of sixty-three enlightened Masters. The name of this Tamil book is Periapuranam, meaning 'Great Epic'.
If we study this book, we find Masters who apparently haven't done anything worthwhile, nothing at all. Nothing happened in their lives. Some Masters just picked flowers and offered them to God, nothing else. Yet, they achieved enlightenment. What we do is unimportant. How honest we are with our action matters. When they offered flowers, they were true and honest to the action.
We may also offer flowers everyday and do everything to please God, yet we aren't enlightened. We only get an extra expense of maintaining a garden or buying flowers. We are not honest. When these Masters pick flowers to offer to God, they continuously think about the god to whom they are offering the flowers. They are totally devoted to the thought of the deity. Nothing distracts them.
When we pick flowers to offer to a favorite deity, we think of something else, somebody else. I have seen people do rituals regularly. Their thoughts are on office work or something else in their life.
I have observed people daily chanting the 1000 names of the Gods and Goddesses, the Vishnu Sahasranama and Lalitha Sahasranama, as a ritual. They are proud that they do not eat a morsel until they finish chanting, which if done completely may take more than an hour*.* Soon after these people start chanting, they look to see which verse number they have reached. They are desperate to see how many verses remain to complete the chanting. They are bored, tired. It is a chore that they are engaged in.
When our heart is not in it, worship becomes a chore. When our heart is in it, hard work becomes joyful worship.
These people cannot focus on the chanting or the spirit of the prayer. They don't have the honesty. These enlightened Masters did not chant or pray out of fear or greed, or as a ritual; they wanted to do it. They had an urge to do it. They did this out of their Being, from the depths of their hearts, in love and in tune with nature, with God.
If we scan our day from the moment we get out of the bed until the end of the day, it is filled with lies. Our smiles are false. When we smile, we don't want the other person to know what is in our mind. So we don't look into each other's eyes. Why? We fear that they will read our mind. We can present a big smile on our mouth when our heart boils; however, in our eyes, we cannot hide anything.
Nothing can be hidden in our eyes. Eyes are the doorway to the soul. Straightaway we see the being in another person's eyes. We don't look into someone's eyes because many times we say and do something that we do not want them to know.
A great philosopher professor attended a few discourses. He asked me, 'Master, for a fifteen minute lecture I must prepare for at least an hour, even if I have been teaching the same subject for years. I notice that you give discourses everyday with no preparation. Each day the discourse is on a new subject!'
'I know you do not prepare because you are busy; you have no time. I have seen that you do not prepare for the speeches. Yet how can you speak continuously? I need hours of preparation.'
The answer is this: if your inner chattering is your honest experience, there is no need for preparation.
Just open up, whatever comes out is your experience. For example, if someone asks our name, do we prepare? Do we need to carry hints for that? Of course not! It's our experience. If something has not become our experience, we need to prepare to deliver a lecture. If we must prepare to deliver a lecture or if we fear public speaking, this means we are filled with lies. Our whole being is a lie; our life is a lie.
Why do people fear public speaking? We fear that we may speak what we think. We fear that whatever is going on inside might spill out. We know that there is so much dirt inside that something might erupt, some garbage might tumble out and we are scared. That is why we prepare what we and how we speak.
We must be certain that we don't speak something else; we need to remember the points one by one. If we forget, we are afraid that we may say something that is really in our mind. Preparation is done to ensure that we don't say something else. Preparation is nothing but trying to hide our true inner chattering.
If a professional speaker must prepare all his talks, whatever he says is a lie. It has not become his experience. It has not become a part of his being, not
internalized as a part of his being. It is just memorized and vomited.
Why do we prepare so many courteous words? We say, 'Nice to meet you, it feels so nice to be around you.' After awhile we say, 'I need to go; I must take care of some work.' Why say such things? If we really feel nice, our whole being shows it. Joy will be expressed by our body language. We need not verbalize it.
A small story:
A teacher takes a guest on a tour of the school. Students pass by and greet her. The teacher nods her head curtly and mutters under her breath, 'Same to you.' The guest asks, 'Why do you never wish them good words back? Why do you say, 'Same to you?'
The teacher smiles and says, 'I have been a student and I know what is really going on in their minds.'
So, whenever you greet someone, be aware of your thoughts underneath your greeting. Be a little aware! Many times we need to edit when and what we speak. However, if we are established in truth, our inner chatter will disappear. Our thinking disappears. If we are completely truthful, we never need to think, we just need to speak and relax. Why do we need to continuously think?
Not only for public speaking or discourses, even when we meet friends or we are with our spouse, we plan and rehearse words. We rehearse how we will start, what we will begin with and how we will continue the topic. We do a full dress rehearsal. If the other person starts talking on a different path, we are lost; we have no idea what to say. We have done a complete rehearsal only on what we know and want to talk about.
If we need to be prepared in order to speak to our boss that is okay. We must be courteous; otherwise we may lose our job. That is at least a basic need and part of the social game. Let us accept it, forget about it and move on. But the situation is much worse than that. We have become so corrupted and our inner chatter is so intense that it goes on with everyone! We continuously prepare dialogues for friends and family. If we must always prepare, whatever we prepare is a lie. Even if we say it as if it is a fact, it is not the truth. Stating a fact is not being truthful.
We can state facts with many connotations and most will be lies. A lie can be dressed up with a little cosmetic alteration to look like truth.
In the Mahabharata, there is a revealing incident. Drona was the General of the Kauravas, the clan of a hundred brothers that battled their cousins, the five Pandava brothers. Krishna the Divine incarnation of God, Vishnu, helped the Pandavas and planned to destabilize Drona so that he could be killed.
Krishna knew that Drona could not be killed unless his mind was disturbed. And unless Drona was out of the way, the Kaurava army that he led could not be defeated. The only way to upset Drona was to kill his son.
Drona's entire energy was focused on his son Ashwathama. Krishna wanted someone to tell Drona that his son was dead. Drona was not attached to anyone except his son and this was the only way that Krishna knew he could upset Drona in order to kill him.
Krishna was also aware that Drona would not believe just anyone who said that his son had been killed. Krishna knew that Yudhishtra, the Pandava prince, would be the best person to announce Ashwathama's death. Yudhishtra was known to be truthful; he would never lie. Everyone believed and trusted him.
Krishna asked Yudhishtra to tell Drona that his son Ashwathama was dead. Yudhishtra refused and said that he could not lie. He said, 'Ashwatthama is alive; how can I say he is dead?'
Krishna said, 'That's okay, there is an elephant named Ashwathama. Bheema, your brother, will kill this elephant. Say, 'Ashwathama, the elephant, died.' When you say the word elephant, I will blow my conch to drown out your words. This will take care of you not lying and get the job done.'
Yudhishtra agreed since he was stating a fact. He said, 'Ashwathama, the elephant, has fallen and he is dead.' When he said the word elephant, Krishna blew the conch. Blowing a conch signifies victory.
Drona believed Yudhishtra and fell into deep depression. He lost all his energy, laid down his arms and entered meditation. A Pandava warrior then killed Drona, who refused to offer a fight.
The death of a son is painful. When a son dies, a part of the being dies. It was too much to handle, even for Drona. This is how Krishna had Drona killed, which then led to the defeat of the Kauravas.
Though he wasn't lying, Yudhishtra was factual, but not truthful. There is a clear distinction between being truthful and being factual. Everything factual is not truthful.
Though Yudhishtra, who was also known as Dharmaraja, the King of Righteousness, did not lie, he did not speak the actual truth. The next part of the story goes as follows.
It is said that Dharmaraja walked above the earth; he was free from its bondage because of his truthful nature and even his chariot never touched the ground. Now, this is not a literal truth.
Please understand that when someone is in ecstasy and bliss, he feels light, as if he is flying. Physically Dharmaraja walked on the ground, however he felt so light it was as if he was flying above the earth. It was a feeling of total boundary-less Consciousness.
The moment he made the statement about Ashwathama's death, even though it was a fact, he came down to earth. His chariot that had been flying above the ground touched land. He lost his boundary-less Consciousness and touched the earth. Truth was lost. His honesty was lost.
In real life, why do we lie so much? Why does a husband always tell his wife that he loves her? If he loves her, his body language should show that. This is how he reminds himself. He must remind himself that he is supposed to love her. When we speak too many words, we are lying. We are not speaking the truth. We are covering a lie with a lot of decorations.
Speaking the truth is dangerous. If we speak the truth, we have space among enlightened people but not other folks. It is so dangerous.
Truth endures logical questions and answers. It withstands the test of logical analysis. If someone needs to verify whether something is pure gold, we must put it in acid to test it. An acid test is required to test the truth of gold. In the same manner, if we wish to know whether something is pure truth, we must put it to an acid test of logical analysis. Our logic will simply fall and fail.
When our logic falls for it, you can be sure it's the truth. Anything that is truth destroys our logic; it means that our logic will become so tired that it will fall by itself. If it is Ultimate Truth, it must stand the test of logical analysis. It must withstand all logical acid tests that it must go through.
If the disciple is in the questioning mood, the Master must prove his words. He must be prepared to go through the acid tests demanded by questioning disciples. It is a big load.
If the disciple is in doubt, Master will open up with the Truth. He will not cover the truth with words. He will not play with words. Naked truth will be served directly. Any truth can be served and explained to a mind with doubt. For a questioning mind, nothing can be explained.
The disciple's mood decides whether the Master's words will be advice or a powerful transformational technique. If the disciple is completely tuned, the Master will help him. The disciple benefits even if the Master is not enlightened.
A small story:
A scholar lived on the banks of the Yamuna River. Daily he offered ritual worship to Krishna. A milkmaid served milk to the scholar on a regular basis. One day, she did not come because it had rained heavily the previous night and the river had flooded over.
The following day when she arrived at the scholar's home, he asked, 'Why didn't you bring my milk yesterday?' She replied, 'The river flooded and I was unable to cross.'
The scholar told her, 'Many have crossed the samsara sagara (ocean of worldly life) by chanting Krishna's name. Yet you can't cross a small river. Chant His name and cross!'
Like a typical scholar, he showed off his dry knowledge to impress the poor milkmaid while simultaneously scolding her for missing a day of service. The milkmaid received his words as absolute Truth. From that day onwards, the milkmaid was on time.
Some time later, the river flooded again. The milkmaid shocked the scholar by arriving at the usual hour. He asked her, 'How did you manage to cross the river?'
The milkmaid replied, 'Due to your guidance, Master. I chanted Krishna's name and walked upon the water as you told me.'
The scholar could not digest it. He demanded proof. The milkmaid agreed. They went down to the riverbank. The milkmaid chanted Krishna's name and walked upon the water. She just floated and crossed the river.
The scholar could not believe what was happening. He thought, 'If an ignorant milkmaid can walk on water based on my teachings, why can't I, a great scholar?'
He started chanting Krishna's name. As he approached the water, he lifted his waistcloth. He stepped into the water and sank.
The milkmaid laughed. She said, 'Master, what kind of faith do you have? Even before stepping into the water, you lifted your waistcloth. How can you believe you will walk on water if you are doing that?'
His disbelief resulted in his failure. He didn't actually have any belief in what he told the milkmaid. He had no faith is his words and knowledge, let alone in Krishna.
If the disciple is in a receptive mood, small words of the Master will be techniques for his growth and will benefit him. Even if the Master is unenlightened or if the Master has no belief or experience in his own words, the disciple's belief surmounts any obstacle.
Doubt and faith are two sides of the same coin. We cannot have faith without doubt. That is why however much people wish to believe my words, they have doubts. I tell them it is okay to have doubts. They are going through a process, a cycle of faith and doubt. As doubt is cleared, a greater faith develops. Then, the next level of doubt occurs. A new layer of understanding is revealed and faith is restored.
Ultimately, the disciple, the devotee, transcends doubt and faith. He reaches the Truth. Until such time, it is normal to have recurring doubt and faith.
Now, Arjuna has come to an understanding. Because of his firsthand spiritual experience, he has come to the level of doubt. No more questions. He does not ask what is beneficial for him. Those self-serving calculations have gone. No more questions like kim tad brahma kimadhyamam kim karma purushothama (Ch.8, *sloka* 1). (What is Brahman? Which is duty, etc?)
He was playing with words then. Now everything has disappeared. In the first chapter, Krishna was totally
silent. Arjuna spoke at length. He quoted dharma and ancient scriptures. In this chapter, Arjuna is completely silent.
This is a problem faced by every Master descending on planet Earth. An innocent disciple is better than an ignorant disciple.
A small story:
A man approached a music teacher and asked, 'Master, I have studied music for four years. Now I want to learn from you. How long will it take?'
Master replied, 'It may take six years.'
Another guy came and asked, 'I studied music for two years. How long it will take for me to learn?'
The Master said, 'Two years.'
A third guy came, 'Master, I know nothing about music. How long must I spend to learn music?'
The Master replied, 'No time. You can pick it up from me in no time at all.'
A fresh, innocent disciple immediately imbibes the Master. He just picks up from the Master to his own being. However, for those with partial knowledge, the Master must do something to undo what they have learned.
All Masters descending on planet Earth bring the same sastra, the knowledge that is written down. But they also bring the life that is infused in this knowledge. What we read in books are just words. They never bring transformation for the reader. No book can give us the truth. They are not designed for that.
A small incident:
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa dictated a book while a disciple took notes. At one point, the disciple asked, 'Master, please repeat that?' Master repeated the statement.
The disciple stopped writing and said, 'Master, this statement contradicts your statement in the previous chapter. This is confusing.'
Ramakrishna told him, 'Don't worry. Write down what I dictate.'
The disciple was unconvinced. Ramakrishna explained, 'The purpose of the book is not to present facts, but to state the Truth and bring about transformation. It is to inspire people to move towards a living Master.'
The Master's words are not related to facts; they are truth. Facts record; Truth resonates.
This is true regarding all scriptures and books. No book can give the ultimate truth. Books can only confuse. Words logically confuse people so that they are inspired towards a living Master. For example, if we read the entire Gita, we should be confused.
The problem is that some people take books as the ultimate authority. They take their intellect as authority. Instead of living the truth, they take books as authority. They demand proof for the Masters' words based on books and scriptures they have read.
The main problem is the meaning of words. For example, if a Master says the word 'atman,' he refers to the Sanskrit dictionary. Yet we refer to atman in the Oxford dictionary. Naturally a problem arises.
When we are in the presence of a living Master, we can seek clarification. We can immediately clear doubts. A Master knows by seeing our faces that we are unable to understand. He explains further till things fit.
When we read books we are playing with our mind. That is why many feel more comfortable with books than listening to a living Master. This is the difference between real seekers and pseudo-seekers.
If our search is real, if it is an urge, we will be seeking a living Master. On the other hand, if our search is an entertainment, just passing time, we feel comfortable with books and old Masters' photographs.
If our search is intense, we feel deeply connected with a living Master.
Sukha Brahma, the great sage and young son of Vyasa, author of the Mahabharata, taught great sages older than himself. He narrated the Bhagavatam, the story of the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu and specifically His incarnation as Krishna.
At the end of the narration, one of the assembled rishis was moved to tears and fell at Sukha Brahma's feet. He said passionately, 'Please do not put this in writing. Once set in words, the deep truth, the intense beauty that can never be expressed in words will be lost. No one will know what happened here. Through reading words, no one will experience the energy play that happened during the narration, the spirit behind the words and the experience of our souls in listening to you. The facts will completely belittle the truth and energy in the whole thing.'
Sukha said, 'I agree; yet we must write this down. Just reading it may inspire future generations. The words will be a great source of inspiration and a driving force to every soul who reads it. It will drive them to experience the Truth behind the words.'
Facts are chronological details found in history. The West has always been interested in facts, in chronology, in history and in what can be verified through some means. Western science needs to prove things with the intellect. It must prove things with logic in order to present them to the world.
The East is more focused on the truth. The truth is metaphorical, not factual. It transcends time and space and cannot be proved by straight logic. If logic can prove
truth, it means logic must be greater than the truth, which thankfully, can never be the case!
Ramayana is the great Hindu epic that Valmiki wrote about King Rama, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. In this story, a demon king, Ravana, kidnaps Rama's wife Sita. Rama seeks the help of the monkeys who lived in the forest kingdom of Kishkinda while on his pursuit of Ravana. This kingdom was ruled by the monkey brothers, Vali and Sugriva, assisted by Hanuman, who is worshipped as the monkey God all over Bharat.
Valmiki described the size of the monkey population in Kishkinda. If taken literally, Kishkinda could not have held that many millions of monkeys.
Valmiki referred to such a large number in a puranic sense of the truth, a metaphorical representation of the truth. Valmiki conveyed the power of the monkeys through that number. The number shows the strength he was talking about. Valmiki's visualization was truth-oriented. Through the number, Valmiki referred to the energy of the monkeys, not the exact number of monkeys. Valmiki's focus was on the truth of the energy rather than factual representation.
Science prefers everything to be verified and quantified. This does not mean that what science has not verified and quantified is untrue. The law of gravity has operated ever since creation. It has been in existence since Existence. Otherwise the sun and planets would not move as they have always moved.
Yet, Newton 'discovered' gravity a few centuries ago. Society and religion didn't accept this fact until then. The Earth has always been round. That has been the truth. Yet this truth was bitterly contested with people being put to death over the argument. It's only been in the last millennium that some agreement was finally reached.
Science is limited in perception. It is like exploring a dense and dark forest with a tiny lamp. The lamp illumines only a few feet ahead and science proposes a theory based on what it sees within that limited space. Next, science advances forward with the light and sees a few more feet ahead. What they see is quite different from what they saw earlier. So they propose a new theory and discard the former one. This is how science operates.
Imagine if the whole forest was visible in one flash of lightning! This is how enlightened Masters see the whole truth. This is the difference between science and mysticism.
Truth is like lightning. It is instantaneous; it is quantum. It is not evolutionary. Facts are logical, step-bystep. Each part must be understood before the next is understood. With truth, absorption is total, instantaneous and holistic. That's why it is difficult to grasp the truth through the intellect. It does not seem logical; it is not rational.
Throughout the centuries people have suffered misgivings because the truth they saw within their beings did not match the truth accepted by society and organized religion. Society and religion have established rules and regulations that have nothing to do with truth since it is difficult to interpret and regulate truth. Rules and regulations are based only upon facts.
Facts and truth do not always go together. Facts are one-dimensional, relating only to time, whereas the truth is space and time; it is multidimensional.
Here Arjuna has come to a level of maturity that is no longer satisfied with factual information. His quest is for truth. His confusions have disappeared. He has no more questions. Only doubts. Doubts are great. They are clear indicators that the disciple is ready to receive and imbibe the Master. Doubts are green signals whereas questions are red signals.
Questions prevent the Master from opening up further. They interrupt the Master and demand His reply to our words. Furthermore, when we are unable to follow, we question the authority of the living Master, the living Energy. We measure Him through our limited intellect. We limit Him by the limitations of our intellect and we use our intellect as the benchmark to judge Him.
A small story:
A young man approached an elderly person sitting under a tree near his village and told him that he was in search of a guru. That old man replied that he knew of one guru. He described him in detail, how he looked, where to locate him and so forth. The young man thanked him and moved on. For thirty years, he searched. Unable to find the guru, he gave up and headed back to his hometown.
Before reaching home, he saw an old man who exactly matched the description of the guru. Approaching closer, the young man realized that he was none other than the old man with whom he started his search. The young man asked, 'Why did you allow me to waste thirty years looking for you?'
The old man replied, 'Those years were not wasted. They molded you. When you came to me thirty years ago, I described myself, including the tree under which I sat. You were unable to recognize me. You were in a hurry to travel, wander and satisfy your ego. Your searching was necessary in order to dissolve questions that arose from your ego. Now you are ripe and ready to receive me.'
If the disciple is not in a receptive state, he is even unable to recognize his guru. Questions arise from ego. Doubts arise from Consciousness.
Arjuna did everything. In the second chapter, when Krishna spoke about atman, saying nainam chindanti śastrāṇi, nainam dahati pāvakaḥa (Ch.2, *śloka* 23) (The ātman cannot be touched by any weapon or be burned by fire), Arjuna immediately asks: sthitaprajñasya kā bhāṣā (Ch. 2, *śloka* 53) (How will an enlightened man speak?)
Why? Why did he ask that question? It was out of pure ego to judge Krishna, to see whether Krishna was enlightened. Arjuna was checking the authority of the Master. It started with violence, with questions.
Gradually, by Chapter 9 when Krishna revealed rāja vidyā rāja guhyam, royal knowledge and royal secret, that Existence is Intelligence, that the cosmic Energy is Intelligence, Arjuna's questions very slowly settled down.
When he heard the glory of Krishna, love started flowering in him. When Krishna revealed His Cosmic Form, the Viśvarūpa, Arjuna experienced ultimate Consciousness.
In Chapter 9, with the revelation of Divine knowledge and secrets, Intelligence happened. In Chapter 10, with Vibhūti Yoga, Divine manifestation, devotion started flowering. In Chapter 11, with Viśvarūpa Darśan, Arjuna had the experience. Now all questions are over.
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa says beautifully, 'In a party, until food is served, conversation and noise take place. Once food is served, only the noise of serving and eating will be heard. Till the ultimate experience, questions will be there. After that, expression of that experience alone will be there. All other noise will disappear.'
Arjuna first questioned the authority of Krishna. Then he moved into calculation of his own benefits. Now it is acceptance. First it was resistance, then indifference and finally acceptance.
Creative energy is different from accounting. Only God can create. If anybody creates anything, he experiences Divinity at that moment. That is why pregnant ladies were worshipped in Bharat during Vedic times. It was believed that they healed people, just by their touch. Architects are creators. Engineers are accountants. Engineers make good money, but architects have the satisfaction. They are creative. Without creativity, we miss life.
Here, Arjuna has finished everything. His calculations are over. He has come down to the level of doubts. With questions, the tune is different. Questions demand proof from the Master. Doubts are not like that. They are just some tips. Arjuna has come to the level of complete acceptance of the Master. That is why, throughout this chapter, Arjuna is silent. He is ready to imbibe the Master. He is ready to take everything thrown to him.
Q: You say that Arjuna has fallen silent. You imply Arjuna still has doubts. How does one differentiate whether one has doubts or questions? If we suppress doubts thinking they are questions, won't it create more confusion?
Surely. Suppression is never the solution. If what one has are doubts, these need to be cleared. How does one differentiate between doubts and questions?
Most of the time we do not listen to what someone says to us. The moment the other person opens his mouth, we wait impatiently for the opportunity to start talking. The space of listening is a preparation for us to rebut and refuse. It is not listening. It is preparation for war.
If we care to listen, if we are going to listen, we must respect the other person. Only then can we pay attention. We must accept that the other person has something valuable to say. If you do not believe that whatever the other person has to say will be valuable, then don't waste your time listening. Do something more productive.
If we care and if we listen without mental or physical interruption, we internalize whatever is said. If internalization happens, even if we do not agree with what has been said, there will be no violence inside. Therefore, there will be no questions.
You will wonder why the person says something different from what you have experienced or feel. There will be curiosity to learn, to understand. You will want to know the other's perspective. You will not judge and condemn.
You may doubt. When you doubt, you emerge with a desire to learn. When you question, you emerge with a desire to teach. When you doubt, you have an open mind. When you question, you have a closed mind.
In my early days of teaching, a board outside the discourse hall read: 'Please leave your shoes and minds outside.' When you bring a full mind inside, a mind that overflows with the arrogance of your knowledge, what results is intellectual violence. Nothing will be allowed inside. What is the point of coming in?
When you sit in front of me with an open mind, my energy senses your questions and if you are aware you will find answers. When your mind is closed, you prepare questions without paying attention to what I say. When you truly listen, questions dissolve.
There may still be curiosity to learn why I say what I say without the violence to disprove what I am saying. You have digested what I said and you are hungry for more. You have doubts. These doubts seem to arise from your inner self. The truth is that the answers are also present in your inner self. You just need to seek. The answer to all of your questions is within you.