9.1 Krishna said:🔗

Arjuna, you trust Me and you are not envious of Me; I shall therefore impart to you this profound and secret wisdom and experience;

This will free you of all miseries of material existence.

9.2 This knowledge is king of all knowledge and the greatest secret of all secrets.

It is the purest knowledge, sacred and gives direct perception of Self-realization.

It is eternal and easy to practice.

9.3 Those who have no faith in this knowledge cannot attain Me, O conqueror of foes;

They will return to birth and death in this material world.

Krishna assures Arjuna with these verses. He says, 'My dear Arjuna, because you are never envious of Me, I shall impart to you this most confidential knowledge and realization, knowing which, you shall be relieved of the miseries of material existence.'

Beautiful lines! He says, 'Because you are never envious of Me.' Depending on the context, this verse can be taken to mean 'Because you are not envious of Me' or 'Because you have trust in Me.'

We may wonder how Arjuna could be envious of Krishna. Please be very clear, you don't know the ways in which the human mind works. We really don't know the ways in which human minds work, especially since in our generation, we always think of Arjuna as being human and Krishna as divine. We accept Krishna

Secret of Secrets as God. However, when Krishna was alive, when He was in the body, people did not always accept that He is divine. In addition, Arjuna and Krishna were friends. They were close friends, so Arjuna treated Krishna as a human and related to Him with human emotions.

Krishna says,

'My dear Arjuna, because you are never envious of Me, I shall impart to you this most confidential knowledge and realization, knowing which, you shall be relieved of the miseries of material existence.'

We should first understand the atmosphere, the background. Only then will we intensely understand this whole chapter as it is expressed.

We may be surprised at Krishna's statement. The very idea that Arjuna might be envious of Krishna may make us surprised.

To tell you honestly, whenever the masters were in the body, people never respected them. This problem always existed. Only after they left the body did people accept and worship them. Actually, it is easy to worship a photograph. There is no sacrifice or transformation required. However, it is never easy to worship a living being. The living person will always be questioned and envied.

There is a beautiful one-liner:

During his life, the grandfather is forced to live in the family outhouse. After his death, he is brought into the house and respected as a photograph!

As long as he is alive, he lives outside the house; he lives in the outhouse. Especially in Bharat, every village home has a front porch. As long as he is alive, he lives there, or in the verandah in city houses. When he is dead, his photo is kept inside the prayer room. When he is alive, he has no place inside the house! However, once he dies, his photograph has a respected place inside the home.

It is the same way with the enlightened master. When a master is alive he is never understood. He is never respected and he is never received. When he has left the body, when he is no more in physical form, it is easy to worship him.

A beautiful incident:

A group of devotees from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's (an enlightened master from Bharat) birthplace, Mayapur, came to Ramakrishna. They told him, 'Oh master, we missed Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. We could not see him. If we had that fortune, we would have become enlightened. We would have experienced devotion to Krishna.'

Ramakrishna laughed and said, 'When Chaitanya was alive, many people went to him and complained, 'Oh Chaitanya! We missed Krishna. We could not see Krishna. If we had seen Krishna, we could have enjoyed the devotion, the energy!'

Ramakrishna says, 'Open your eyes and see. Chaitanya is here. Just as people went to Chaitanya and talked about Krishna, you come here to talk about Chaitanya. You come here and complain that you have missed Chaitanya.'

Whenever masters are alive, it is difficult for people to accept their divinity. However, once they leave the body, people say, 'We missed Ramakrishna,' 'We missed Ramana Maharshi,' 'We missed Chaitanya,' or 'We missed Mirabai.' We complain about what we missed. We never realize what we have.

Here Krishna says, 'Because you are never envious of Me, I will give you the ultimate secret.'

Here, please understand, Krishna is giving the ultimate secret. Once we know this secret, then there is no difference between the Divine and us. Here He gives us the straight, ultimate secret.

In the business world, the leader usually never gives secrets to anyone, whatever they may do, however close they may be. Corporate people maintain secrets. Here Krishna says, 'I am not going to maintain any secrets. I am going to open the whole thing.' He says that knowledge is free. It is up to us to use it.

Now, modern day IT companies declare that knowledge is free. Yet five thousand years ago, Krishna declared that knowledge is free. He says, 'I am opening all the secrets.' He decides, 'I am giving you this secret because you are never envious of Me.'

There is an important thing that people who go near the master should know, especially people who live around the master. By and by, these disciples, instead of trying to achieve the state of the master, they try to achieve the status of the master. State is different from status. The enlightened state of the master should be achieved, not the status that his enlightenment confers. When we work for status, we are in trouble.

Once I went to a college for a public lecture. It was a meditation program in Tamilnadu. You know how the college kids behave. One young boy questioned me, 'Why should you be respected so much? After all, you are my age.' Of course, it is true. I am barely a few years older than him. He asked, 'Why do they shower so many roses at your feet when you come?' In Bharat, spiritual masters are usually received with flowers wherever they go.

I had tried my best to advise the organizer of the program, 'Don't do these things. Don't offer flowers, especially since it is a college. Naturally I will face such questions.' Yet the organizer, a devotee, wanted to somehow show his devotion. He took care of the arrangements and ensured there were flowers. In the question and answer session, the boy directly asked, 'Why should so many flowers be showered at your feet? Why should you be respected so much?' Of course, naturally, it is jealousy, nothing else.

The first thing I told him was this: 'I tried my best to avoid these arrangements. However, they have done it out of devotion. Next thing, from another angle, you only see the flowers that are showered now. You don't know how many thorns these feet have crossed. You don't know how many austerities this body has endured. You don't know how many thorns these feet had to cross to come to these flowers. So don't be envious for the status. Be envious of the state. Try to achieve the same state in which I live. Then, not only will you be showered with flowers, you will be showered with everything. Achieve the state, not the status.'

When you see the status, you will always be caught in jealousy. If you see the state, I will become a source of inspiration for you. If you see the state in which I live, I will be an inspirational source for you to achieve the same state. I will be a role model. You will think, 'When he can achieve this, why not me?' I become an inspirational source for you!

I tell people that the only difference, the one and only difference between an ordinary person and an enlightened being is that an ordinary man is sleeping while an enlightened person is awakened; that's all. The consciousness is the same.

Again and again I repeat, 'Whether you believe it or not, accept it or not, realize it or not, you are God. You are divine. You have two choices. You can either sleep as long as you want without experiencing this truth, or you can make the conscious choice to experience your enlightenment. But the truth is, 'You are That.'

Here, Krishna says, 'Because you never try to achieve my status, I am trying to give you my state.' The person who never tries to achieve the status of the master achieves the state of the master. First, state comes. Then, status follows. If we try to create the status, the state will never be achieved.

Ramakrishna says, 'First God, then the world.' The world is like a shadow. Status is like a shadow. If we run after it, we can never grab it no matter how much we chase it. However, if we walk on the path, it simply follows.

The outer world is like a shadow. If we run after it, try to catch it, we will never be able to grab and hold onto it. Try your best to run after the shadow. Can you catch it? No. However, if we walk on our path, it follows us.

Go towards the state, status will follow you. If we run after the status, we will never grab it. Here Krishna says, 'Because you are never jealous, never envious of My status and Me, I give you the ultimate secret of this state.'

And I tell you, this is the ultimate secret. Really, this is the ultimate secret. And He says, 'Knowing which, you shall be relieved of the miseries of material existence.'

What are the miseries of material existence? Whether we have something or not, it is misery. If we don't have, then the misery is, 'I don't have.' If we have, then we have the misery, 'I must protect it.'

Yoga means achieving. K¾ema means protecting. Yoga means achieving; k¾ema means preserving. Both are miseries. Whether we have or not, it is misery.

Krishna says that the miseries of having wealth and not having wealth, both miseries that are caused by material existence disappear by knowing this secret. And I tell you honestly this is the ultimate secret that needs to be understood. Knowledge of this secret liberates you.

He says, 'This knowledge is the king of all knowledge. The greatest secret of all secrets, it is the purest knowledge and because it gives direct perception of the Self by realization, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting and it is joyfully performed.'

See, religion or a spiritual path should have three characteristics. First, it should clearly describe the goal of life. Next, it should clearly give you the path to achieve the goal. Third, it should make you happy to travel in that path. The path itself should be joyful.

A small story:

Some herbal doctors advertised with billboards claiming they can cure anything. One doctor's billboard said he could cure all diseases that we know the names of, as well as all diseases that we don't know the names of. He put up a billboard with all these claims. One person came with a disease.

The doctor asked, 'What is your disease?'

This person said, 'I don't know the name. Please diagnose it yourself.'

The doctor tried his best to diagnose. However, he was unable to determine the disease. But he had put up the big advertisement, so he had to cure. There was no other way. So he gave some medicine. The medicine was: 'Swallow a crowbar without it touching your teeth and drink three liters of water. You will be cured!'

What kind of medicine is this? The medicine clearly shows that the person will not be cured!

In the same way, our solution or path should not be impractical. The path that we are shown should not be impractical. If it is impractical, naturally, we cannot practice.

There was once a yogi in the Himalayas. When disciples came to him, he gave a technique: 'Hold your nose for two hours and sit.' Can anybody sit like that? He said, 'If you do that, you will become enlightened.' Who can travel that path? Nobody can travel it. The path must not be complicated. It must be simple.

So here, Krishna says, 'It is eternal,' meaning that the result that we achieve is everlasting. He uses all the advertising terms! And it is joyfully performed. It is easy. We don't need to struggle for it. We don't need to suffer. It is the deepest secret. All we need to do is to realize the secret. Understand the secret.

Why is it a secret? If it is going to help so much then why is it a secret? If it is going to be such an important thing, why should it be kept a secret? Why not let the whole world use it? It is important for us to understand this point.

Please be very clear that the ultimate secret, the ultimate knowledge is not for the masses. Masses always get stuck with small things and shallow entertainment. That is why, if we run a cinema theatre, you can see how such a big crowd gathers! Or if we run a public show, how many people attend it. The crowd will be ten times more!

Only a few hundred people are here today because we built only a temple. Temples are for the chosen few, not for all. We need intelligence to come to a temple. We need intelligence to enter spirituality. It is not for everyone.

Yesterday I received a question. One lady asked, 'Swamiji, my husband does not accept or understand the path I am traveling, the path of yoga. Coming to this program is important to me and I want to attend it. However, it is difficult for my husband to come to terms with it. Do you have a suggestion to help bridge this gap?'

How to make the husband or wife spiritual? How to convert them to spirituality? When people ask me this question, I laugh and ask them, 'If I knew this secret, do you think I would have become a sany¢si and renounced the material world!'

Honestly, the answer is that it cannot be done. It only has to happen. It has to happen on its own from within the person.

I can say one thing: All you can do is give him some intelligence about life. You cannot directly give spirituality. Please don't ask him to meditate. Don't ask him to come to the temple. Talk to him again and again about life. Ask him, 'What kind of a life are we leading? What are we doing? Why don't we think about life? Again and again, we are caught in the same rut.' All we can do is to give intelligence about life in this fashion. That's all. Nothing else can be done.

Only by intelligence can a man come to spirituality. That is why this is preserved as a secret. If this spiritual intelligence is given to all, without bothering about the qualifications of the receiver, the person who receives will harm himself and others also.

First, he harms himself if he has not completely understood it. For example, what will a criminal do if he is told, 'You are God?' He will think, 'I am God. So let me do whatever I want. I don't have to bother.' He misuses the knowledge. He does not use it. He abuses it. That is why I say he harms himself.

A person who experiences God radiates compassion. He radiates simplicity. He radiates innocence. Divine qualities express through him. He never hurts anybody. We see a beautiful innocent shine in him and such simplicity. He never hurts anybody. He never harms anybody.

If we are relaxed, blissful, in a good mood, and our employee or co-worker makes a mistake, do we shout at him? No. We will say, 'Alright, leave it. What can be done?' However, if we are in a bad mood, an irritable mood, nobody needs to make any mistake. We shout at everyone for no reason. We are waiting to rant and rave. We are waiting to shout.

Our mood decides our action. If we are blissful, we never do anything wrong. If we are in a hellish mood, we always make mistakes.

Please don't think people go to hell after making mistakes. No! We make mistakes because we are in hell. We do the right action because we are blissful. Someone who experiences that he is God never makes a mistake and never harms anybody.

If this knowledge is given to all, including those who don't have the maturity, naturally they harm themselves and they harm others. They hurt others. They say, 'I am God. Come here. I will do whatever I want.' That is why this knowledge is kept as a secret.

It is like terrorists having the secret of the atom bomb. Of course, it is dangerous for them and the world. In the same way, this is the secret of the spiritual world, the inner world. If the person who is not qualified knows this secret, it is dangerous for him.

That is why He says, 'this king of secrets is the king of knowledge.' Krishna reveals the secret only to qualified people.

Look at the story of Christ. He declared, 'I am the Son of God.' It is true, what Jesus declared is from His experience. He experienced enlightenment. He experienced the kingdom of God. He experienced heaven. That is why He clearly expresses, 'I am the Son of God. I am the Son of the Divine.' But there was only one thing there: He spoke about the inner kingdom. However, the people thought that He was trying to snatch the outer kingdom from the rulers.

Jesus spoke about a totally different truth; people understood it in a totally different way. Just a communication gap and so he had to die at such a young age. He had to be killed, crucified. The whole thing is nothing but a simple misunderstanding!

When Jesus says, 'I am the Son of God. I am the owner of the divine kingdom,' He means the inner space, the inner secrets. He expresses His experience. However, He expressed it to people who were envious of Him. The people who killed Him were envious of His inner liberation and were afraid of Him.

In this chapter Krishna says, 'I am not even God; I am something more than God. Whatever you think of as God rests in Me. All created beings rest in Me.' He declares, 'I am God.'

But He is not crucified because He declares this truth to a person who understands, to a person who accepts it and not to a person who is unable to realize it. We need to see whether a person is mature enough or not to receive the truth before we share it.

Here, Krishna says it is a secret, because it can be delivered only to a person qualified to receive it.

You see, in the first two to three chapters, He speaks about º¢stra, intellectual knowledge that can be given to anybody. However, these chapters are intimate secrets, delivered only from a master to a disciple, only to a disciple who is qualified, who is really interested to receive the knowledge and who really wants the knowledge.

One person asked me, 'Swamiji, please teach me about God. Give me enlightenment.' I told him, 'See, it is time for pras¢d (food offered to God and eaten by devotees with His blessings). Please go and eat in the ashram. They will give you pras¢d.'

If we go to any Hindu ashram or temple, food that has been offered to the deity or Existence is then shared by all. That is the tradition. Hindus believe 'atithi devo bhava,' meaning 'the guest is God'. We give them food. Whatever we eat, we share with them.

Anyway, I told this person, 'Please eat and come back. I will talk to you in the evening session.' He immediately said, 'No Swamiji! I must leave by the next bus. I have half an hour left. In this half an hour please tell me about God.'

In half an hour what can I tell him? What can a person understand in half an hour? Naturally, God cannot be given out like instant coffee! Coffee can be instant; Coca-cola can be given, but not God! We cannot have God instantly. We need to realize; we need a little patience.

The more we hurry, the more we will delay. Please understand that speed is not the technique of the inner world. In the inner world, the more we hurry, the more we delay. The hurrying, the tension, the stress, postpones the process, postpones the experience. It will not let us relax.

That is why Krishna says that these secrets can be told only to a person who is really interested, who is really intimate, and who really desires to know.

Beautiful words! All our scriptures are called Upani¾ad. Even Gita is called Upani¾ad. 'G¤t¢s¦pani¾atsu brahmavidy¢y¢m yogaº¢stre ºri K¨¾´¢rjuna sa¼v¢de' is the verse at the end of every chapter. 'This is Upanishad of Bhagavad Gita, scripture of Yoga dealing with the science of the Absolute.'

The word Upani¾ad literally means 'sitting down near someone'. It refers to the teaching style of a traditional vedic school or gurukul of ancient India where students sat by their master to learn. This is how knowledge was imparted. Knowledge was transmitted in close groups in a trusted environment. It was knowledge not merely through intellect as verbal communication. It was a communion of beings wherein the experience of one was experienced by the other.

See, in our home we keep everything prepared for our outwardly life. Whatever we need is there: a bed for sleeping, the kitchen for cooking, a dining table for sitting and eating. We collect all the materials one by one, and then we also collect luxurious things like jewelry. Our jewelry changes according to the color of our sari (traditional clothes of Hindu women). Sometimes, the shoes also change! We have everything to match each other. Whatever we need for the outwardly life and comforts, we collect and store.

However, we forget an important fact. In the same way that we collect things for outward existence, for the outer space, we need to collect knowledge for our inner space: life solutions, solutions for our inner space. If we feel depressed or low, if we face some adverse situation, how are we to react? How are we to handle it? We need this knowledge to handle it, in our inner space.

Like collecting things for the outwardly life, we need to collect life solutions for a happy, blissful life. Collecting life solutions is what Krishna calls jñāna yajña. What is nitya (eternal) and what is anitya (temporary)? What is satya (truth) and what is asatya (falsehood)? Acquiring all this understanding is jñāna yajña.

If I literally translate this word jñāna, it refers to higher knowledge or wisdom and yajña refers to the purification process that leads to this higher knowledge. What Krishna means through jñāna yajña is the spiritual path that leads one to Self-realization. It is the path that creates awareness in us about our divinity. This realization of the deepest truths about oneself happens in many cases through a combination of two things: understanding about similar spiritual experiences by observing others and our own efforts to contemplate upon these experiences so that they are reproduced within.

Let me tell you one important thing. Please focus on the life solutions offered by great masters while gathering knowledge. I request that people read books that give life solutions as experienced by enlightened beings at least for half an hour every day: books of Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, books of great masters. Numerous books provide deep insights into how we should lead life. We have the book 'Guaranteed Solutions' based on my teachings in the Life Bliss Programs. Many spiritual books give life solutions. Spend at least half an hour every day reading books based on the life and teachings of enlightened masters.

If we can't spend half an hour reading, then listen to audio CDs in the car. In this country (USA), we spend at least one hour a day driving, on an average. The average is one hour. Whatever profession we are in or even if we don't have a profession, we drive just for the joy, for some reason. Even to shop for basic groceries, we drive at least one hour. Don't waste that hour. Always have some audio CDs that give life solutions in the car.

It is not that it must be my lectures. Read, watch or listen to anything that adds value and gives insight into leading a better life. It can be something you like that comes from an enlightened source and gives solutions for your life. Let that hour become your jñāna yajña, your spiritual journey. Add more and more life solutions into your inner space.

I tell you one thing: A life solution may suddenly come up at the time of need and can reduce the depth of depression you experience. The moment a life solution erupts from our inner consciousness, from our inner space, the depth of depression can be immediately reduced. The low curve is straightened out and we move up in spirit. That is why I am telling you to make driving your jñāna yajña. Let that time be used for collecting life solutions. Let it be a truly productive time in your life instead of it filling your inner space with all nonsense from the radio and what not. Whether you understand everything or not, listen. Let that become your habit. Automatically, life solutions, those words, stay in your inner space. You will be surprised how they will come to your aid when you need them!

If we don't do that, when we drive we will think about our worries. If we don't spend time finding life solutions, we spend time finding problems. We create problems. Even if we don't have problems, we will create problems!

If we have problems, we bother about them. If we don't have a problem and everything goes smoothly, what do we think? We think, 'Today everything is going well. I don't know what will happen tomorrow! Swamiji, if things go well one day, the next day I always get some problem.' We strongly believe that if we have no problems today, we will have problems tomorrow. It becomes a strong faith in us.

Whether we have problems or not, we worry. Better not to allow the mind to worry. Listen to something that gives life solutions. Let that hour become jñāna yajña in our lives.

Krishna says that doing jñāna yajña is one step. Understanding that the whole cosmos is energy is one step. If we understand that whatever exists is energy, automatically, fear will be taken away from our being.

The next question is, 'How can we say that whatever exists is energy, Swamiji? How can we say whatever exists is God? That is impossible. All these things are good to listen to, but are not practical to practice!'

Our mind never accepts that these things can be practiced and experienced. So Krishna continues; He goes on and comes out with the basic secrets.

Here Krishna gives the qualification of people who can attain Him. He clearly describes the people who can reach Him. When I say 'Him', it is not the form named Krishna that I speak about. When I say THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM, I do not mean this sixfoot THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. I mean the universal energy, the cosmic energy called nityānanda – eternal bliss.

In the first two verses He says, 'It is a great truth that I am going to tell and it is a secret that I am revealing to you.' Now He lets Arjuna know what kind of people can know the secret.

He says people who do not have faith in dharma or His teachings go back to the path of rebirth without enlightenment, without attaining Him. He says the qualification required is to have faith in His teachings. Only those people can come out of the vicious cycle of birth and death.

You see, having faith is one of the most important things, especially in the spiritual path. Whenever an enlightened master speaks, every word he utters is the truth. That is why I always add the words, 'Whether you believe it or not, accept it or not, understand it or not', whenever I talk about some controversial truth.

Actually, there is nothing called a 'controversial truth'. Truth is truth. A fact can be controversial. When I say controversial truth, I mean a truth that the normal human mind cannot accept with the limited knowledge it has. People who said that the earth was round were put to death because the human mind could not accept it at that time. It was a controversial truth, yet it is the truth.

When I say we are part of the same consciousness, when I say that we are all one, your mind cannot accept it because it tries to find a logical solution, an intellectual answer to everything. So you must have faith in me to understand what I speak.

One more thing is that there are three possible levels in which you can put faith in what a master says. With the first level or group, you can have doubt. That is obvious. You doubt what I say, what a master says, because you can't comprehend what I say.

See, you can have doubts. In fact, you should have doubts, only then you question what I say. However, you should find out if those doubts are genuine. If they arise out of ego, then it is your mind playing a game. Your mind creates a wall between you and me. As long as your doubts are genuine, as long as you question to know the truth out of curiosity, it is fine.

In my discourses, I encourage people to ask questions and to raise doubts. Only then can you fully internalize.

The second group or level is when you believe whatever I say. That is the second category. This is dangerous. Believing whatever I say without understanding and experiencing it for yourself is dangerous. This creates a weak foundation. When I say that you are God, if you just straightaway believe me it is dangerous, because you have not experienced it. If someone questions you on your belief, you will be unable to stand by it. You will stammer and stumble and do yourself harm.

I know lots of people who come to me, call themselves my devotees. When I ask whether they meditate, they stammer, 'No Swamiji. There is so much work. There is no time.' Then they say, 'But I pray to you everyday, Swamiji. I offer fresh flowers and incense sticks.' They talk as if they do me a big favor.

They are believers. Their foundation is weak. Only when they meditate will they experience what I speak about. Otherwise, they are just believers.

The third approach is trust. When you trust me, you accept what I say. You still have doubts. However, you are willing to break that wall and try to see and experience what I am saying. You build your foundation and you make it strong because you trust me. This is the way faith should develop. This is the way it should be. Faith should arise from a strong foundation. First you trust me, then you try exploring the truths I share and when you have a glimpse of the truth, you believe me with a stronger foundation. Now nobody can shake you because you have developed a strong base. You have done the work yourself.

Here, Krishna talks about faith in dharma, His teaching. We should understand this word very deeply. Only then we can understand Krishna's teaching. Buddha also says:

buddhaṁ śaraṇaṁ gacchāmi dharmaṁ śaraṇaṁ gacchāmi saṁghaṁ śaraṇaṁ gacchāmi

Buddha talks about surrendering to Him - Buddham, to His teaching - dhammam and to His group - sangam. Buddha says surrender to My teaching. He means have faith in My teachings. Trust them, try them and have faith in them.

You see, we are different from animals because we can have faith in dharma meaning the higher levels of consciousness. Without dharma, we are the same as any animal. When an animal feels like eating, it eats. When it feels like sleeping, it sleeps. It is completely controlled by instincts. It does not make a decision consciously, based on right or wrong. However, a human being has one extra power. He has free will to follow dharma. He has free will to do or not do, to accept or not accept.

When Krishna says dharma, He means anything that leads us to a higher level of consciousness. Man without consciousness is an animal, a dānava. In Hindu epics there are two types of people – mānava and dānava, humans and non-humans. The first category has faith in dharma and a higher level of consciousness. Dānava are nothing but animals. They do not have faith in any dharma, so their level of consciousness is low.

The only difference between man and an animal is the seed of consciousness implanted in us. We must water this seed and allow it to germinate. We must nurture this sapling to flower into a fully-grown tree. We need faith in dharma for this tree of consciousness to happen in us.

Krishna clearly says that if we do not have faith in dharma, we go back to the cycle of birth and death. He gives it straight. He says we must allow consciousness to flower in us, and in order to do that we must have faith in dharma.

When our faith is complete, when we have internalized His dharma in everything that we do, our consciousness automatically blossoms. When we reach that state of consciousness, we merge with universal consciousness and then we are free from the cycle of birth and death.

So Krishna gives a technique. He says, 'Have faith in dharma and it will lead you to the Ultimate.'