Love is Your Very Life
In the last chapter, Arjuna asks for and receives the viswarupa darshan, the vision of the Universal Form of Krishna. Krishna very patiently resolves Arjuna's doubts and answers, all his questions. Arjuna then wishes to see the true reality of Krishna, the Form behind the formless, the Imperishable, the Eternal. Krishna obliges his friend and disciple, Arjuna, the true representative of the human being, Nara.
Seeing this cosmic form of Krishna, and unable to withstand the energy, Arjuna begs Krishna to show him the benevolent four-armed form of Vishnu that he is used to worshipping with devotion. Finally, Krishna reverts to His normal human form as Arjuna's charioteer, and the King of Yadavas. After showing His cosmic form and having given the experience of cosmic consciousness to Arjuna, Krishna now speaks about bhakti, devotional love.
Krishna's universal form, as displayed to Arjuna, is His cosmic consciousness, which is our collective consciousness. Arjuna understands from Krishna that he too is a part of this cosmic consciousness, and at the same time he is aware that what he could see of Krishna is a mere fraction of His eternal cosmic Self.
Arjuna's experience of the divine form of Krishna raises further questions in his mind.
Is this form that he just witnessed the glorious reality of the cosmos? Is this the true reality that he should focus on? Or is the formless Self that Krishna had talked to him about earlier more important?
Usually people think a spiritual experience happens only after bhakti, devotional love. However, bhakti only happens after a spiritual experience. Real bhakti cannot happen to you before a spiritual experience.
Western religions believe that social service leads to spiritual experience. No, never! Without our own inner transformation we can never hope to help others. If we do that, whatever we do will be only skin deep, just superficial. We do it to boost our ego, to hear others speak of our kindness and how good we are.
Only when our ego disappears can we relate to others as part of a collective consciousness. Only in this case, do we feel we are one with everyone else, rich or poor, black or white. Then we can engage in a meaningful contribution to others.
Only when a person experiences every being as part of the cosmic consciousness can he radiate love. Only such a person knows what love is. Nobody else knows what love is. Others think that they love, or act as if they love. Be very clear, so many people act as if they love. Sometimes by acting, they think that they love. Never can we love by acting!
Love must flow from our being. Love happens when we experience cosmic consciousness, when we have a spiritual experience, when our ego disappears. Krishna lays out the whole technique for us step-by-step.
After a spiritual experience so much gratitude flows from our being, so much love overflows from our being, that we start radiating it. We need not make an effort, it just flows. We cannot stop it. No one can show or experience love, unless they have had a spiritual experience.
Unconditional love cannot be forced to happen. It flowers inside us when our mind is silenced and cleansed. What we commonly call love is conditional. We negotiate with our love, with what we perceive to be the power to provide approval to us from others. In return for that certification of approval from another person, we give the emotion that we call love.
We talk about loving other people. We are proud of loving the whole world. In practice, however, we find it difficult to love even our neighbor, especially if he is wealthier than us. There are times when one would gladly lose one's eye, so that his neighbor may lose both eyes, such is the negativity arising out of jealousy and greed. How can we love the world when we cannot love our neighbor? How can we talk about doing service to humanity when basic charity to one's kith and kin is lacking?
People ask me, 'Master, you tell your devotees to meditate, meditate, and meditate. What is the use? Isn't it a selfish practice? Why don't you tell them to do service? That will benefit a lot of people.'
There are many so-called spiritual organizations and organized charities that are caught in social service, just for name, fame and social prestige.
The people running these organizations, the people involved in these organizations, are always preoccupied and busy being photographed for newspapers and magazines. Organized charity is a beautiful way of cheating yourself and others.
Charity can never be organized. It just has to flow. It is not an external expression. It is an internal conviction. The moment we try to organize that conviction, the whole thing takes on a different quality, a different color, and a different purpose. Only when it flows after an experience, is it a solid expression of love.
Our inner transformation must happen before we help others transform. Unless we feel that we are part of the Whole, unless we feel that every other person is irretrievably linked to us, it is impossible for us to contribute with true love. We will only be hypocrites.
We are part of the cosmic ocean. Each of us is a mere drop. As long as we remain droplets and do not understand the reality of being part of the same ocean, we remain separate; our feelings will be driven by 'I' and 'mine'. As long as this separation remains, there can be no true love. There can be no expression of unconditional love.
Zen Buddhism beautifully says, 'Whatever Buddha does, whatever an enlightened being does, even if he kills someone, it will only do that person good. It will do Buddha as well as the other person good, because Buddha is driven by the cosmic consciousness. Therefore it will always be good for everyone.'
However, whatever an unenlightened man does, even if he does great service, it will do ill to him and society. Good or bad is not decided by doing. It is decided by the being!
When an enlightened man acts, even small things lead to great results in the world. When an unenlightened person acts, even great truths lead to misery and destruction.
Think about the simple words uttered by Buddha, 'Watch your breath, witness your inhaling and exhaling.' Buddha discovered this simple truth through which thousands of people have become enlightened. Through this vipassana meditation technique, the lives of thousands have been transformed. As a result, the entire universe has benefited.
When Buddha uttered an ordinary truth, a simple truth, it led and continues to lead thousands of people into a state of higher consciousness. Yet when an unenlightened person discovers even a great truth, it leads to destruction. For example, the Atomic Theory is a great truth. The Theory of Relativity is a great truth. Yet when it comes from an unenlightened mind, it leads to destruction.
Researchers are now engaged in scientific work related to cloning and stem cells and so on. Whatever results and benefits humanity may receive from this work will be more dependent upon the quality of the being of the researchers. The effect will not depend on the quality of their minds. Minds are always driven by ego. The being is driven by consciousness and awareness of universal love.
If a single person with the wrong attitude is allowed to sit in a seat of power, he can endanger the whole of humanity. Everything is ready. All we need is someone to press the button. If he is mad enough and sadistic enough to press the button, global homicide will happen. So many atomic weapons have been piled up.
See, atomic fission is a great truth. Atomic fission says that atoms can be split and thereby made to release massive amounts of energy. It is such a great truth, yet it is an expression of an unenlightened mind. It can be put to many constructive uses. This truth can change the world for the better. However, as long as it is evolved from and operated by unenlightened beings rooted in their ego, it will naturally lead to destruction.
Deeds or words by themselves don't do good or bad. They do good or bad based upon the consciousness from which they are emitted, based upon the consciousness from which they are expressed. This consciousness, this awareness, is related to the feeling one has for others. The quality of our awareness decides whether the end result benefits or destroys humanity.
Only after a spiritual experience, do we feel gratitude at the being level. If it is our solid experience that every living being is God, we radiate love and our Being becomes love. We cannot help ourselves. Bhakti and love are expressions that flow from that spiritual experience.
Krishna's discourse on bhakti yoga starts after Viswarupa Darshan Yoga. After the experience, He talks about the expression, bhakti yoga. He talks about the expression of devotional love.
Who Is Perfect?
2.1 Arjuna asked, 'Who are considered perfect, those who are always engaged sincerely in Your worship in form or those who worship the imperishable, the invisible formless You?'
Arjuna now speaks in a totally different manner. The trend is different now. He asks, 'Which of these two types of people are considered to be better - those who are always engaged in your bhakti – devotional love to wards to you - or those who merge in the Brahman, the unmanifest, formless, cosmic consciousness?'
Please be clear, Arjuna is not asking for himself. From here, the discourse becomes a simple discussion. It is more like trying to record the truth for future generations.
The questions from here onward are neither doubts nor enquiries. Arjuna tries to put the whole thing down in the expression form, so that it will be a useful reference for future generations. A flow of Arjuna's love for humanity, an expression of his divine experience, prompts him to seek answers to these vexing questions and record the answers from the Godhead Himself.
Arjuna asks, 'Who will be established in You totally? Will it be a devotee or a person who is enlightened?'
Religious people, or so-called religious people, confuse others with this verse about Arjuna's question as to whether worshipping the form or worshipping the formless is right. These people are so confused that they do not know right from wrong. They use their intellectual arrogance and misunderstanding to confuse others. Let me tell you, this is not what Arjuna meant by asking this question. If we look at Krishna's answers, we will understand.
Arjuna asks, 'Is it good to be established in the experience of the divine consciousness, just to stay in it and enjoy the eternal bliss that flows from that experience? Or is it better to express that love and gratitude created by the conscious experience towards the whole world and every living being? Which is correct? Which one is preferred?'
See, when we have a spiritual experience, some people stay in that experience with closed eyes, that's all. Only with eyes closed, they can see God. They do not wish to open their eyes. They do not seek to use their senses since the bliss within is so great and beautiful that absolutely no sensory input remotely matches that bliss.
However, there are others who are impelled to open their eyes, as it were, by the universe to communicate that blissful experience through their expression to others.
The so-called scholars enter into endless debates on savikalpa samadhi and nirvikalpa samadhi. Savikalpa samadhi is the state where the experience of samadhi continues. Nirvikalpa samadhi is when the expression of samadhi starts. Savikalpa samadhi is supposed to be a lower state, and one is supposed to work towards the second and higher state of nirvikalpa samadhi. But it is not an ironclad rule.
In my own case, both happened together. I did not go through two stages. I went through just one, and reached the state where the experience was allowed to be expressed. It was the will of the Divine, Parashakti. Please understand that this is not a choice that people make. An option is not presented to those who have such experiences.
Ordinary human beings have freewill to decide what they wish to do, and their karma follows. Karma refers to the fruits of their own actions – good or bad. Those who experience the Divine transcend that point of freewill. They are driven wholly in each step that they take by Parashakti, the Universal Energy, by Krishna, the super conscious Godhead. They have no choice whether to sit with their eyes closed or open their eyes and benefit humanity.
It is not that Arjuna does not know this. Arjuna understands that he and others who have had an experience of the Divine, face the choicelessness. He knows that Krishna decides what he should do. Yet, he asks because he wants everyone to understand. This is why the Bhagavad Gita is a living scripture. Its words resonate 5000 or 10,000 years after Krishna spoke. This dialogue answers every possible question of a seeker. Arjuna's role is to represent the spiritual seeker.
Arjuna asks, 'What type of a person is greater? Is it a person who closes his eyes and sees God within himself or a person who opens his eyes and sees God in every being? Who is greater?'
Please understand, he is not asking whether worshiping the form or worshipping the formless is greater. Yet so-called religious people have interpreted it that way, and created problems between the teachings of the great Masters Sankara and Ramanuja.
Sankara followed gnana, the knowledge path, and Ramanuja followed bhakti, the devotion path. Gnana focuses on the formless through intellectual queries. Bhakti focuses on the form, sheer devotion, as if the Divine were alive and kicking, as It indeed is. However, those who have studied Sankara and Ramanuja in depth know that there was much bhakti in Sankara's approach and much g*nana* in Ramanuja's approach! Both approaches converge. One without the other never works.
No one who has read Sankara's Soundarya Lahiri will be unmoved by the expression of love of this Master for the Mother Goddess. It is true, that there is tremendous metaphoric significance in philosophical terms to this work and other devotional works of Sankara. Still he is moved primarily by his devotion to the form that he describes so beautifully.
He describes the Goddess from head to toe as he sees Her in front of him. It is a graphic, loving description, an aware and devotional rendering of his expression.
On the other side, the depth of philosophical wisdom and insight provided by Ramanuja in his commentaries, the bhashyam, on the sutras and scriptures, easily rivals that of Sankara, who is considered the pinnacle of religious philosophy. True gnana cannot exist without bhakti and true bhakti cannot exist without gnana.
The argument goes on and on and on. But if we see the answers, it is clear that this is not what Arjuna asks. He asks, whether he should be established in that divine experience or whether he should express the gratitude happening within him?
Expressing the gratitude that happens because of the experience is bhakti. Having that experience and rejoicing, staying in that experience is gnana; that's all.
Krishna's answer is that both paths are the same. The paths are intertwined. The first one leads to the second one, and the second one leads back to first one. We must have heard the term vicious circle. First one leads to the second and the second one leads back to the first one.
Now I want to introduce another word, virtuous circle. Vicious circle leads to low energy or lower level of consciousness. Virtuous circle leads to high energy, a higher level of consciousness! Bliss leading to devotion and gratitude, devotion and gratitude leading to bliss these two form the virtuous circles that lead us to higher consciousness.
Bliss means the experience that leads us to the expression of gratitude and service. Again, the expression, the gratitude of service, leads us to bliss. One leads to the other and therefore it is a virtuous circle. Usually we are caught in the vicious circle. Fear leads to greed and greed leads to fear. More fear leads to more greed, and more greed leads to more fear. This is the vicious circle. Here Krishna introduces the virtuous circle. Virtuous circle is what He calls dharma, righteousness, that which must be followed in the path of truth.
Dharma means virtuous circle, that which leads us to live and express higher and higher levels of consciousness. That in turn leads us to higher and higher levels of blissful experience. Consciousness and bliss lead to expression of that consciousness and bliss, which in turn lead to higher level experiences.
Q: Master you mentioned there is no word like divorce in Sanskrit. In the West, it is a reality.
If you are spiritual, there is no need for divorce. If you need a divorce, there is something seriously wrong. Understand that real spirituality makes you a better husband or a better wife. Don't complain saying, 'No, no, no he is not spiritual. He is not falling in tune with me.' These negative feelings and expressions arise because of your expectations.
Based on our samskara, our conditioning and what we see around us, each of us develops a template, an image, of what we wish to see in our life mate or soul mate. This search for the partner is genetic and programmed by nature, to ensure the continuation of the human species.
What we see is not what we get. We see a rosy picture and fall in love. Understand, we never say that we 'rise' in love. We always only 'fall' in love. It is a descent, never an ascent. When we get closer to each other, the time span of contact increases and the space between the two decreases, colors change from rose to yellow. That is what marriage is about.
A man presented a newly married couple a puppy as a wedding gift. After six months he met the husband and asked how he and his wife were getting along. The husband said, 'In the beginning, the puppy barked and my wife brought me the morning newspaper. Now the puppy brings in the newspaper and my wife barks at me!'
We are full of expectations, so full of fantasies. We cannot let go and appreciate the other person for what he or she is. Understand that God created all of us. Are we trying to make the other person better than what God created that person to be? Yet, we take a brush and paint and try to repaint that person to match our color scheme. Or we take a hammer and chisel and sculpt that person to our desired form. What will happen if chisel living human beings? Only suffering will follow. No wonder almost every marriage seems to suffer somewhere.
In the Shiva Sutras, an ancient Hindu scripture delivered by Lord Shiva to His consort Devi Parvati, She asks Shiva, 'Lord, what makes a happy couple?'
The Great Master says, 'In every marriage, there are four people. Each marital bed has four people, not two: the man, the woman, the man's fantasy of his woman and the woman's fantasy of her man! When the man and woman drop their fantasies and there are only the two of them in bed, marriage becomes happy!'
Let me tell you honestly: we see what we project. It may hurt our ego. It may hurt us. But look inside, we will understand that we contribute to every problem. Nobody can hurt us without our permission. Nobody can disturb us without our permission. Nobody can possess us without our permission.
We must have some vested interest. That is why we allow this type of person into our life. Allowing and attracting persons who are not in tune with us is not spiritual. That means there is something wrong in our being. Search, work on it, heal it. Everything will clear.