1. isbn 978-1-934364-42-0

Content: BhagavadGita

Content: commentary

Content: by

Content: Nithyananda

Content: Krishna

Content: -the

Content: cosmic

Content: Window

Content: BhagavadGita

Content: BhagavadGita

Content: The meditation techniques included in this book are to be practiced only after personal instructions by an ordained teacher of Life Bliss Foundation (LBF). If some one tries these techniques without prior participation in the meditation programs of LBF, they shall be doing so entirely at their own risk; neither the author nor LBF shall be responsible for the consequences of their actions.

Content: Published by

Content: Life Bliss Foundation

Content: Copyright© 2008

Content: First Edition: July 2008

Content: Ebook ISBN: 979-8-88572-060-1

Content: ISBN 10: 1-934364-42-0 ISBN 13: 978-1-934364-42-0

Content: All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. In the event that you use any of the information in this book for yourself, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Content: All proceeds from the sale of this book go towards supporting charitable activities.

Content: Printed in India by WQ Judge Press, Bangalore.

Content: Ph.: +91 +80 22211168

Content: 2

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: Bhagavad Gita Demystified

Content: Nithyananda

Content: Discourses delivered to Swamis and Ananda Samajis

Content: of the Nithyananda Order all over the world

Content: Beyond Scriptures

Content: Krishna The Cosmic Window

Content: CHAPTER 11

Content: How does one experience Universal Consciousness?

Content: What exactly happens?

Content: What basic qualification does one need for this

Content: experience?

Content: Krishna explains with His very Presence!

Content: 3

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: CONTENTS

Content:

1. Bhagavad Gita: A Background 7

Content: 2. Introduction 15

Content: 3. Krishna: The Cosmic Window 19

Content: 4. I Wish to See Your Divine Form 38

Content: 5. The Divine Eye 52

Content: 6. A Thousand Blazing Suns 68

Content: 7. Worlds Tremble with Fear 77

Content: 8. Tell Me Who You Are 89

Content: 9. Do Not Be Afraid 103

Content: 10. You Are Everything and Everywhere 114

Content: 11. Krishna, Yadava, My Friend 132

Content: 12. Your Familiar Form 141

Content: 13. Only You Have Seen This Form 149

Content: 14. Only in This Way Can You Reach Me 160

Content: 15. Scientific Research On Bhagavad Gita 168

Content: 16. Kuru Family Tree 170

Content: 17. Glossary Of Key Characters in the Bhagavad Gita 171

Content: 18. Meaning Of Selected Sanskrit Words 173

Content: 19. Invocation Verses 186

Content: 20. Verses Of Gita Chapter 11 187

Content: 21. About Paramahamsa Nithyananda 223

Content: 5

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: Bhagavad Gita: A Background

Content: Bhagavad Gita is a sacred scripture of the Vedic culture.

Content: As with all scriptures, it was knowledge that was transmitted verbally. It was called sruti in Sanskrit, meaning something that is heard.

Content: Gita, as Bhagavad Gita is generally called, translates literally from Sanskrit as the 'Sacred Song'. Unlike the Veda and Upanishad, which are self-standing expressions, Gita is written into the Hindu epic Mahabharata, called a purana, an ancient tale. It is part of a story, so to speak.

Content: 7

Content: BhagavadGita

Content: As a scripture, Gita is part of the ancient knowledge base of Vedic tradition, which is the expression of the experiences of great sages.

Content: Veda and Upanishad, the foundation of sruti literature, arose through the insight and awareness of these great sages when they went into a no-mind state. These are as old as humanity and the first and truest expressions in the journey of man's search for truth.

Content: Unlike the Vedas, which were internalized by the great sages, or the Upanishads, which were the teachings of these great sages, Gita is part of a story narrated by Vyasa, one of these great sages. It is narrated as the direct expression of the Divine.

Content: No other epic, or part of an epic, has the special status of the Gita. As a consequence of the presence of Gita, the Mahabharata epic itself is considered a sacred Hindu scripture. Gita arose from the super consciousness of Krishna, the Supreme God, and is therefore considered a scripture.

Content: Mahabharata, literally the Great Bharata, is a narration about the nation and civilization, which is now known as India. It was then a nation ruled by King Bharata and his descendants. The story of this epic is about two warring clans, Kauravas and Pandavas, closely related to one another. Dhritarashtra, the blind King of Hastinapura and father of the 100 Kaurava brothers was the brother of Pandu, whose children were the five Pandava princes. It is a tale of strife between cousins.

Content: 8

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: Pandu was the King of Hastinapura. A sage cursed him that he would die if he ever entered into physical relationship with his wives. He therefore had no children. Vyasa says that all the five Pandava children were born to their mothers Kunti and Madri through the blessing of divine beings. Pandu handed over the kingdom and his children to his blind brother Dhritharashtra and retired to meditate in the forest.

Content: Kunti had received a boon when she was still a young unmarried adolescent, that she could summon any divine power at will to father a child. Before she married, she tested her boon. The Sun God Surya appeared before her. Karna was born to her as a result. In fear of social reprisals, she cast the newborn away in a river. Yudhishtra, Bhima, and Arjuna were born to Kunti after her marriage by invocation of her powers, and the twins Nakula and Sahadeva were born to Madri, the second wife of Pandu.

Content: Yudhishtra was born to Kunti as a result of her being blessed by Yama, the God of death and justice, Bhima by Vayu, the God of wind, and Arjuna by Indra, God of all divine beings. Nakula and Sahadeva, the youngest Pandava twins were born to Madri, through the divine Ashwini twins.

Content: Dhritharashtra had a hundred sons through his wife Gandhari. The eldest of these Kaurava princes was Duryodhana. Duryodhana felt no love for his five Pandava cousins. He made many unsuccessful attempts, along with his brother Dushashana, to kill the Pandava brothers. Kunti’s eldest son Karna, whom she had cast

Content: 9

Content: BhagavadGita

Content: away at birth, was brought up by a chariot driver in the palace and by a strange twist of fate joined hands with Duryodhana.

Content: Dhritharashtra gave Yudhisthra one half of the Kuru Kingdom on his coming of age, since the Pandava Prince was the rightful heir to the throne that his father Pandu had vacated. Yudhistra ruled from his new capital Indraprastha, along with his brothers Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. Arjuna won the hand of Princess Draupadi, daughter of the King of Panchala, in a swayamwara, a marital contest in which princes fought for the hand of a fair damsel. In fulfilment of their mother's Kunti's desire that the brothers would share everything equally, Draupadi became the wife of all five Pandava brothers.

Content: Duryodhana persuaded Yudhisthtra to join a gambling session, where his cunning uncle Shakuni defeated the Pandava King. Yudhisthtra lost all that he owned - his kingdom, his brothers, his wife and himself, to Duryodhana. Dushashana shamed Draupadi in public by trying to disrobe her. The Pandava brothers and Draupadi were forced to go into exile for 14 years, with the condition that in the last year they should live incognito.

Content: At the end of the 14 years, the Pandava brothers tried to reclaim their kingdom. In this effort they were helped by Krishna, the King of the Yadava clan, who is considered the eighth divine reincarnation of Vishnu. However, Duryodhana refused to yield even a needlepoint of land, and as a result, the Great War, the

Content: 10

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: War of Mahabharata ensued. In this war, various rulers of the entire nation that is modern India aligned with one or the other of these two clans, the Kauravas or the Pandavas.

Content: Krishna offered to join with either of the two clans. He said, ‘One of you may have me unarmed. I will not take any part in the battle. The other may have my entire Yadava army.’ The first offer was made to Duryodhana, who predictably chose the large and well-armed Yadava army, in preference to the unarmed Krishna. Arjuna joyfully and gratefully chose his friend and mentor Krishna to be his unarmed charioteer!

Content: The armies assembled in the vast field of Kurukshetra, now in the state of Haryana in modern day India. All the Kings and Princes were related to one another, and were often on opposite sides. Facing the Kaurava army and his friends, relatives and teachers, Arjuna was overcome by remorse and guilt, and wanted to walk away from the battle.

Content: Krishna’s dialogue with Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra is the content of the Bhagavad Gita. Krishna persuaded Arjuna to take up arms and vanquish his enemies. ‘They are already dead,’ says Krishna, ‘all those who are facing you have been already killed by Me. Go ahead and do what you have to do. That is your duty. Do not worry about the outcome. Leave that to Me.’

Content: The Gita is the ultimate practical teaching on the inner science of spirituality. It is not as some scholars incorrectly claim, a promotion of violence. It is about the

Content: impermanence of the mind, body, and the need to destroy the mind, ego and logic.

Content: Sanjaya, King Dhritharashtra's charioteer, presents Gita in eighteen chapters to the blind king. All the Kaurava Princes as well as all their commanders such as Bhishma, Drona and Karna were killed in battle. The five Pandava brothers survived as winners and became the rulers of the combined kingdom.

Content: This dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna is a dialogue between man and God or nara and Narayana as they are termed in Sanskrit. Arjuna's questions and doubts are those of each one of us. The answers of the Divine, Krishna, transcend time and space. Krishna's message is as valid today as it was on that fateful battlefield some thousands of years ago.

Content: Nithyananda explains the inner metaphorical meaning of Mahabharata thus:

Content: 'The Great War of Mahabharata is the fight between the positive and negative thoughts of the mind, called the samskaras. Positive thoughts are the Pandava princes and the negative thoughts are the Kaurava princes. Kurukshetra or the battlefield is the body. Arjuna is the individual consciousness and Krishna is the enlightened Master.

Content: The various commanders who led the Kaurava army represent the major blocks that the individual consciousness faces in its journey to enlightenment. Bhishma represents parental and societal conditioning.

Content: Drona represents the conditioning from teachers who provide knowledge including spiritual guidance. Karna represents the restrictive influence of good deeds such as charity and compassion, and finally Duryodhana represents the ego, which is the last to fall.

Content: Parental and societal conditionings have to be overcome by rebelling against conventions. This is why traditionally those seeking the path of enlightenment are required to renounce the world as sannyasin and move away from civilization. This conditioning does not die as long as the body lives, but its influence drops.

Content: Drona represents all the knowledge one imbibes and the teachers one encounters, who stop short of being to able to take us through to the ultimate flowering of enlightenment. It is difficult to give them up since one feels grateful to them. This is where the enlightened master steps in and guides us.

Content: Karna is the repository of all good deeds and it is his good deeds that stand in the way of his own enlightenment. Krishna has to take the load of Karna’s punya, his meritorious deeds, before he could be liberated. The enlightened Master guides one to drop one’s attachment to good deeds arising out of what are perceived to be charitable and compassionate intentions. He also shows us that the quest for and experience of enlightenment is the ultimate act of compassion that one can offer to the world.

Content: Finally one reaches Duryodhana, one’s ego, the most difficult to conquer. One needs the full help of the Master

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: 13

Content: here. It is subtle work and even the Master's help may not be obvious, since at this point, sometimes the ego makes one disconnect from the Master as well.

Content: The Great War was between one hundred eighty million people - one hundred ten million on the Kaurava side representing our negative samskaras - stored memories - and seventy million on the Pandava side representing our positive samskaras - stored memories - and it lasted eighteen days and nights. The number eighteen has a great mystical significance. It essentially signifies our ten senses that are made up of gnanendriya - the five senses of perception like taste, sight, smell, hearing and touch, and karmendriya - the five senses initiating action like speech, bodily movements etc., added to our eight kinds of thoughts like lust, greed etc. All eighteen need to be dropped for Self-realization.

Content: Mahabharata is not just an epic story. It is not merely the fight between good and evil. It is the dissolution of both positive and negative samskaras that reside in our body-mind system, which must happen for the ultimate liberation. It is a tale of the process of enlightenment.

Content: Mahabharata is a living legend. Bhagavad Gita is the manual for enlightenment.

Content: Like Arjuna many thousand years ago, you are here in a dialogue with a living enlightened Master in this book. This is a tremendous opportunity to resolve all questions and clear all doubts with the Master's words.

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: Introduction

Content: In this series, a young enlightened Master, Paramahamsa Nithyananda comments on the Bhagavad Gita.

Content: 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.

Content: 15

Content: BhagavadGita

Content: Nithyananda’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.

Content: To read Nithyananda’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.

Content: Sankara, the great master philosopher said:

Content: ‘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.’

Content: Editors of these volumes of Bhagavad Gita have expanded upon the original discourses delivered by Nithyananda 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.

Content: 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!

Content: 16

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: Swami's Picture

Content: 17

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: Krishna:

Content: The Cosmic Window

Content: In this chapter, Krishna shows his Cosmic and Divine form to Arjuna. Krishna gives Arjuna the experience of Universal Consciousness. For the first time, Arjuna is about to experience Krishna’s Divine form. From the beginning he has only been hearing of Krishna’s divinity again and again. Now he is about to experience what has so far only been expressed.

Content: Of all the chapters in Bhagavad Gita, this chapter, Vishwaroopa Darshana Yoga - Vision of the Cosmic Form - has a very

Content: special significance. It is in this chapter that Krishna reveals his Divine Self, that of the Parabrahma Krishna. Elsewhere He speaks with the authority of Parabrahma Krishna, but He is still present as the mortal human Krishna form. Now, at Arjuna's request, He reveals His true Cosmic Self to Arjuna.

Content: In this sense, this is the most important of all the chapters in the Bhagavad Gita, not for its philosophical or spiritual importance, but for the revelation of the Divine. When the Cosmic Form is revealed to Arjuna, if one is immersed in this chapter's content as he was, nothing more needs to be said, nothing more needs to be experienced.

Content: In the previous chapter, along with Arjuna we too heard the glories of Krishna, the complete expression of the Divine. Krishna declares, 'Amongst the stars, I am the Moon, amongst the rishis, I am Narada; whatever is best, I shine in that.'

Content: Krishna is not boasting that He is the best. All that He conveys is that whatever there is, is manifest in Himself. He is the very essence of Existence. As we saw earlier, the moon is not considered a star; even in the Hindu calendar the moon is not counted as a nakshatra, a star. Mythologically the stars are considered the wives of the Moon!

Content: However, in terms of its influence upon our planet Earth, and upon humans, the influence of the moon is next only to the Sun. The gravitational pull of the moon creates and controls not only the tides of the oceans, but also the tides in the minds and hearts of humans. In this sense, Krishna declares Himself to be the Moon amongst stars.

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: Now, Krishna goes beyond all verbal expressions of His glories. Enough words have been said. It is now time to demonstrate. Krishna proves who He is by giving a solid experience to Arjuna.

Content: The difference between an enlightened man and an egoistic man is that an egoistic man also declares what he perceives to be a fact, but only the enlightened man can give the experience itself. A mortal can talk, that is all he can do. He has no experience to back it up with.

Content: Whenever you go on about yourself, it is based on a collection of your emotions and memories; it is an expression of what you think you are and what you think you have experienced. That sort of expression may be based on fact, but it doesn’t mean absolutely that it is a truth.

Content: In the same way, we prime ourselves with all of our social conditionings, the value systems and beliefs. They become more and more real the more we think about them. Others, who want our attention or something that we possess, join in and repeat all these wonderfully untrue things about us. We become convinced we are superhuman.

Content: Our entire existence as we know it is unreal. So therefore, what can be true about it? How can we boast and take credit for a life that we don’t have any control over? We have no control over the next breath we take. We have no control over how long our loved ones will live. We have no control over what will happen during the course of our lives. Yet, we believe we are in control of the whole of our lives.

Content: 21

Content: Hiranyakasipu , the demon king, thought he was God and he made his subjects chant his name, 'Hiranyaaya Namaha'. Krishna also stated that He was God. The difference between the two was that Hiranyakasipu could not give the experience to his subjects. He told them, 'Either believe that I am God or I will kill you.' He threatened his subjects into this behavior, whether or not they actually believed he was God. Please understand that conversion by blood or bread does not help. While both declared they were gods, Krishna could actually prove it. He could give the experience of Universal Consciousness.

Content: Many religions have attempted this method of Hiranyakasipu in the past and continue even today to forcibly convert non-believers into their fold. For our inner Self to be convinced of the truth of someone's divinity there is no need for coercion; there is no need to use fear and greed. The Self knows. The Self cannot forget its origin. It cannot forget the divinity of which it is part. There is no need to cajole and coerce. If a religion and its propagators need to resort to violence or enticement to communicate the truth of their beliefs to others, one of two things is true - they do not believe it themselves or what they believe is not worth following.

Content: This truth of the divine Self is what Jesus referred to when He said to repent. The words 'to repent' in the ancient Aramaic language mean 'to go back to one's origin.' This is what the Sanskrit word samādhi means, 'to go back to one's original state.' This original state can never be forgotten and cannot be untruthfully represented.

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: This is where all proselytizing religions go wrong. They try to convert others by cajoling them or coercing them, by fear and greed, by the carrot and the stick. Humans are not donkeys. Truth can never be experienced through fear and greed. Even if false truths are propagated through such conversion tactics of fear and greed for centuries, the truth will win out one day. There is no other way.

Content: No great Master believed in spreading his words through fear and greed. All great Masters spread their words through unconditional love and compassion. That is the only way truth can spread.

Content: Unfortunately, the disciples who followed these spiritual Masters were not always Masters themselves. They were there to establish business practices in the form of religions. They were organizers, not leaders. Fear and greed became handy tools of organization and propagation, since these followers did not have the experience of truth within themselves.

Content: Please understand that spirituality is truth. Great Masters such as Buddha, Krishna, Jesus and such others stood for truth. But the religions that followed them only pretended to stand for them; they stood only for the Masters and not for the truth the Masters experienced and expressed.

Content: These religions misrepresented facts that followers understood to be the truths that the Masters revealed. These followers had no experience of the truth themselves. What they expressed was their understanding of what they believed was the truth they heard. These

Content: 23

Content: expressions were colored by their own ego and were transmuted to serve their personal interests.

Content: On the other hand, the Sufis and Gnostics did not need religious interpretation to understand truth. Their hearts felt it. Their Self understood it. They scorned religious leaders who pretended to interpret the truth of their Masters for them. ‘Go away,’ they said. ‘We know the truth. We feel the truth. We do not need to hear from you. We don’t need to read what you have written on behalf of the Masters.’ So they were persecuted.

Content: How to find out whether a person is a Master? How to establish whether a person is enlightened or just egoistic? This is the scale; if he can give the experience, whatever comes from him is truth. Here Krishna shows clearly that he is everything. He demonstrates His divinity to Arjuna. Krishna walks His talk in this chapter.

Content: In the Bhagavatam there is a beautiful verse that the gopi (cowherdesses of Brindavan), sing to Krishna, who is everything to them:

Content: Tava kathaamritam tapta jeevanam Kavibhireditam kalmashaapahnam Shravanamangalam shreemadaadadam Bhuvighrinanti te bhooritaajana

Content: ‘O Krishna, tava kathaamritam…Your words and the words uttered about You are kathaamritam, words of nectar, words both on You and by You. Just by listening to these words, You create auspiciousness in us.

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: 'These words are worshipped and expressed as the highest truth by the great rishis. We who have experienced You, feel the joy again and again by speaking about You. You rejuvenate our whole being. Just by listening to these words about You and by You, we are transported to a different plane.'

Content: If you have fallen in love with Krishna, this is the chapter to know Him and enjoy Him. Here in this chapter He does not give any teachings. All intellectual teachings are over. Vidhi and nishedha, do's and don'ts, are all over. He gives the experience directly: 'I am Everything.' He gives the experience of the ultimate Universal Consciousness and the realization that He is present in everything. Arjuna experiences the Universal Consciousness. This whole chapter is pure experience.

Content: The first thing we need to understand is whether it is possible to have the experience of the Universal Consciousness. Secondly, what is the basic qualification to experience it? Thirdly, what really happens inside our being during such an experience? These three things we shall understand from this chapter and explore the wonderful possibility of experiencing Krishna as the Cosmic Window.

Content: In the previous chapter, Krishna gave the intellectual explanation that He is the Ultimate. More than an intellectual expression, I may say that this is an expression given to a person who is deeply in love. Krishna can be God only when a person achieves the maturity of Arjuna. The truth should be declared only when a person is qualified and mature. Only when you

Content: 25

Content: reach the maturity of Arjuna, can you experience the divinity of Krishna. When you feel deeply connected to a person, he looks divine even though he may be quite ordinary in reality.

Content: Shiva says in Tantra that when one drops one's fantasies, he becomes Shiva and his wife becomes Uma. He reaches the state of Shivatva, the state of Shiva, and she reaches the state of Devi.

Content: Truth can only be expressed when the listener is ready. Look at what happened to Jesus. The Jews of his day crucified Jesus, as they were not ready to listen to His truth. The Jews of that time were egoistic and unprepared to accept what Jesus said. They were afraid that his teachings would destroy their livelihood. They preferred to live in bondage to the Romans and their Pharisees rather than be liberated by the Master's words.

Content: In the case of Buddha, he was more fortunate. He escaped being killed. Out of the many thousands who heard him, a few hundred understood and accepted what he said, and followed him. Buddha left behind ten thousand followers while Jesus left behind twelve.

Content: Krishna ruled by love. Though He was the King of the Yadava clan, he ruled not by authority and power, but by personal example and compassion. Those who lived with Him identified with Him, and loved Him beyond their own selves.

Content: When the female gopi bathed with Krishna in the river Yamuna, they had no sense of shame, since they had no body consciousness when they were around Krishna.

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: Their entire awareness was merged with Krishna. They were one with Him, one with His Cosmic Consciousness. It did not even occur to them that they were without clothes. They had no fantasies. They were in the true reality of the Divine.

Content: How does one attain enlightenment living a normal life?

Content: In the Shiva Sutra, Shiva says there is nothing wrong with a husband and wife living a normal conjugal life, but they need to drop their fantasies about one another. He tells Devi that when a couple is in bed, there are four of them in bed, not just two. It is an orgy, not a love coupling. It is the wife and the husband's fantasy about the wife, sharing the bed with the husband and the wife's fantasy about her husband. It is only when the two of them let go of their fantasies and see each other for who they really are, that a couple can be in love.

Content: When we live without fantasies, the other person looks like God. Only then the other person is real. Please understand that everybody is God, including you. But each of us carries our own idea of God and tries to put everyone else into that frame. When they do not fit into the frame, we throw the person out instead of getting rid of the frame.

Content: Shiva asks you to throw out the frame instead, so that then you can see everybody as God. What does not fit is your concept of the frame, your ideas of how others should behave. Because the frame does not fit, you wish to change the face! It is like cutting the foot to fit the shoe.

Content: 27

Content: shoe! Alter the shoe, not the foot! You are intelligent if you do the latter, but what most of us do is the former.

Content: We have our own imagination of how our wife, husband, son, daughter, brother, boss and friend should be. We try to fit them into that frame and suffocate them when they don't fit. That is why the other always suffocates us. That is why you need your space.

Content: The space you require is the space for your fantasies. Over time this space becomes unlimited, because your fantasies grow. We cannot accept another person for what he or she is. The natural self of the other person threatens us. From childhood we have grown with ideas about what we should be and what everyone around us should be. We have clear ideas about how our would-be should

Content: be! Our template gets drawn up by listening to others and listening to the media. Then we piece it all together and frame it for our constant reference. Constantly we are comparing everyone to the fantasy we've built up in our minds.

Content: These templates are so convoluted that no real person can match them. All our psychosomatic problems are built into these templates, and God's creatures have no chance of matching them at all . So we spend our lives chiseling those real people whom we meet, trying to get them to fit into our fantasy world. We create psychological wounds for them and for ourselves!

Content: When you are deeply connected with the other person as they are, when you can accept anybody as he or she

Content: is, you establish a divine relationship. However, to do so, you must first learn to accept your own self as you are. When you are continuously engaged in chiseling, your job has no end. You can never be happy by chiseling the outer image. You can be happy only by dropping your image, your template, about the other person.

Content: A small story:

Content: A person gifts his friend with a puppy upon his marriage. After three months, he asks his friend how he enjoys his married life and if there is any change.

Content: The friend replies, 'Nothing much, only a small change. In the beginning the puppy used to bark at me and my wife used to bring me the newspaper. Now my wife barks at me and the puppy brings the newspaper!'

Content: When you try to chisel, there will only be barking with nothing else happening. When you accept everyone as they are, the whole world appears as God.

Content: This can be achieved in two ways. Firstly, by your own tapas, your spiritual penance, you aquire maturity by undergoing this experience repeatedly. You need to keep dropping your fantasies about other people. You need to stop creating fantasies about others, and accept them for what they are.

Content: Secondly, a Master can also give you this experience by infusing tremendous energy in you, by bringing you to his same frequency. But even to retain the energy of the Master, you need a certain level of maturity. This is what happens here in this chapter. The frequency of Krishna’s Vishwaroopa form is too much for Arjuna to bear and he cries out to Krishna to resume his normal form.

Content: A small example: the other day I was watching the disaster of Hurricane Katrina in the USA on the TV when one of the ashramites asked me why such calamities were taking place.

Content: I tried to explain to them that it is something like driving your car or SUV and it goes over a small anthill. As far as the ants are concerned this is a natural calamity for them. They may call it ‘Hurricane SUV!’ But as far as you are concerned you are not even aware of this disaster . You are just driving the SUV. Can you relate with the ants in this incident or say that driving over their anthill was pre-destined? Their logic and yours are completely different. Neither can they question you nor can you answer them.

Content: Like us, there may be an ant who says that this is all God’s will; the kind of explanation any organized religion gives!

Content: No organized religion can ever give a reasonable answer to such happenings. No logical answer or explanation can ever be given for these experiences. No justification can be given that it is pre-destined and such. There is no logical answer as to why thousands of people

Content: die for no reason. All organized religions, and I mean ALL of them, prove their own uselessness in such situations.

Content: The frequency, logic, perception and concepts of the ants are completely different from ours, just as ours is again completely different from the Cosmic Consciousness. Just as how you do not even know that your vehicle has killed thousands of ants, the Cosmic Energy or Consciousness is not even aware of a happening like Hurricane Katrina. The frequency of this consciousness is in a completely different dimension. From the cosmic level, what happened in New Orleans is something like a mug of water having spilled onto an anthill, washing away the ants.

Content: It is not possible to comprehend what that level or frequency is. What is possible is for us to raise the frequency of our will or consciousness to be one with It, to learn to live with It and experience It. Neither God nor your wife can be understood, just learn to live with them!

Content: The ants cannot question you as to why you spilled the mug of water on them. If their level of frequency is 10, your level is 100, and the Universal Consciousness is infinity. Logically, nothing can be done. Please understand, anyone who is trying to give a logical explanation is simply cheating. Anyone who attempts to explain logically why there are so many natural calamities, why death, why the misfortunes in life, why someone is high or low, has simply created one more philosophy.

Content: If the person is charismatic, has a way with words, he will have created a new philosophy and cheated a group of people. One does not need to be very intelligent to cheat people because people are not as intelligent as you think they are! This is probably why great philosophers convince others, but they themselves are not convinced.

Content: I know a great atheist who chanted God’s name when he lay dying! The very act of trying to convince and convert others testified to the fact that he was not convinced himself.

Content: Please be aware that conversion is an intellectual and psychological crime. A converted person has one persona superficially and his internal unconscious being is not in tune with it. The two conflict with each other and he becomes a schizophrenic. And preachers who convert others without any deep, personal experience of the Divine, always fall into the worst kind of depression. They punish themselves by their own acts.

Content: I am reminded of a humorous incident. One of our devotees from Oklahoma who was associated with us was a reverend of the clergy. He enjoyed our programs and eventually went on to become a teacher of our courses, an acharya. I had never asked him to convert himself to our religion. To begin with, I myself do not have any religion! There is no need because what I teach is pure satya, the truth.

Content: The light bulb was invented by Thomas Edison. We cannot say that the light bulb belongs only to Christianity, since Edison happened to be a Christian. It belongs to

Content: humanity. Similarly the truth of the inner light given by Krishna, like the light bulb, belongs to humanity and not to any particular religion. It is not necessary to convert to any religion. It is enough if you understand the truth and live your life happily and intensely.

Content: I met a preacher engaged in violent conversion of people in India. Not having had the experience of truth himself, this preacher who was engaged in converting others, had fallen into depression. He wanted to meet with me in private, and so I agreed.

Content: He wanted healing from me and after a few days of healing, he felt much better. I asked him the reason why he was engaged in such a violent practice. He replied that when he spoke, so many people listened to him and this gave him a sense of power. He then felt convinced that what he was teaching was the truth! I share this incident to show that when a person preaches without experience, he is simply trying to solidify his own confidence. Don’t be fooled.

Content: One of my disciples had a conversation with a Born Again Christian who met him in the course of his business. My disciple mentioned that he taught meditation techniques that I had ordained him to teach. This person responded by saying that he was a Christian and therefore he could not practise meditation. My disciple asked him why not.

Content: This person said that he only worshipped Christ. My disciple responded saying he too worshipped Christ and found no problem in meditating. That person said Christ is the Son of God and my disciple agreed that Christ indeed was God.

Content: Stumped, this man said Christ was the only Son of God and one had to agree to this to be a true Christian. My disciple told him: 'That is difficult for me to agree with. I believe that I too am God, and that you too are God. Christ is also God.'

Content: People who are trying to convert others into their faiths by greed and fear have no faith in themselves. If they did, there would be no need to convert others. Their own faith would transform others and make them realize the truth of their experience. Instead, they believe they are sinners. So they are keen to prove to others that they too are sinners, whether they wish to believe this or not.

Content: Please understand, every one of you is Divine! You are all cast in the mold of the Almighty. All you need is this awareness that you too are Divine.

Content: But then, religions cannot benefit materially from such an attitude. They cannot control people by telling them they are Divine. They can only control them by saying they are sinners. Only then can they wield power over others and accumulate wealth.

Content: Religious zealots use money and power to force people to see their point of view, simply because they do not have the conviction themselves. They entangle themselves in social, political and material machinations to convince others of what they themselves do not have faith in.

Content: Spiritual truths should transform, not convert. Spiritual truths should make a Christian a better Christian, a

Content: Muslim a better Muslim and a Hindu a better Hindu. They cannot and should not make a Hindu into a Christian or a Christian into a Muslim. Those who try to coerce others into converting, by convincing them that they are sinners, are the biggest sinners themselves. They have no redemption.

Content: That is the difference between Krishna, the incarnation, and Hiranyakasipu, the demon. Here the difference between Krishna and Hiranya, is that the latter tries to preach and convince others of his ideas and convert them to be his followers. He is just trying to play the game when he himself does not have the experience. Krishna gives the experience directly. When He declares that He is God, it is not for His ego but for you to experience the Truth, which is why He tells Arjuna that He was uttering the words for Arjuna’s sake.

Content: Let us now go into the verses and examine three questions:

Content: Can Universal Consciousness be experienced? What is the basic qualification for this experience? What happens when one experiences it?

Content: These three questions are explained beautifully by Krishna in this chapter.

Content: Q: Master, you mentioned somewhere that Christ is not a Christian and Buddha is not a Buddhist. Can you elaborate?

Content: Every religion has been the expression of the intense personal experience of a Master. It is his unique way of expressing his own experience. The experience is the same but the expressions vary. The underlying truth in all these expressions is also the same.

Content: Every Master, whether Krishna, Buddha, Mahavira, Jesus or anyone else, preached the same message. We hear it differently. We attach the label of Christianity to the expressions of Jesus and Buddhism to the teachings of Buddha. We add our own labels to the same truth to make them different and even conflicting.

Content: To give us something to do, we fight, maim and kill in the name of the Master. Has there been a Master who said to kill in the name of his experience? If he did, he can be no Master. He would be worse than you and I.

Content: The expression of Jesus that became Christianity did not belong to Jesus alone. It was a universal truth propounded by Him, based on His experience. Similarly, Buddha expressed His experiences and they became the religion of Buddhism. Buddhism does not belong to Buddha alone. These spiritual truths expressed by the great Masters are universal truths, which belong to all of humanity. These Masters are expressions of energy that transcends form and labels.

Content: Stop thinking you are a Christian and that you are a follower of Jesus. Read the Bible and assimilate the truth of the expressions of Jesus, as if these are the truths expressed by the Buddha. Follow the expressions of the Buddha as if they are the truths expressed in the Koran.

Content: You will then realize that there is no difference between these universal truths. Jesus did not create the trademark of Christianity. His so-called followers did, many centuries after his death. Buddha condemned ritualistic worship. Yet his followers have turned him into a God and worship his idols!

Content: In the name of their Masters, these followers fought with one another and killed one another. The spiritual expressions of the founding Masters have become profitable business for their followers.

Content: I say that if Jesus and Krishna meet each other, they will hug each other and be blissful. However, the cows of Krishna and the sheep of Jesus will bicker with each other as to whose Master is greater!

Content: 11.1 Arjuna says: O Lord! By listening to Your wisdom on the supreme secret of Existence and Your glory, I feel that my delusion has disappeared.

Content: 11.2 O Krishna! I have heard from You about the creation and destruction of all beings,

Content: Also Your inexhaustible greatness.

Content: 11.3 Purushottama! You have declared what You are, O Lord Supreme,

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: I wish to see the Divine form of Yours.

Content: 11.4 If You think it is possible for me to see it, then please, O Lord of Yoga and all mystic power,

Content: Show me Your Form of Eternal Universal Self.

Content: In the minds of many, Krishna is considered an incarnation. It is in this chapter that Krishna reveals Himself as not just an incarnation but also the very source from which everything flows. He is the source of all sources, the cause of all causes, the source of all the worlds and universes.

Content: Arjuna has already heard from Krishna about everything that he needs to do. Arjuna’s questions have all disappeared, his doubts and delusions have dissolved. In the previous chapter, Krishna explains to Arjuna who He really is.

Content: It is not that Arjuna is not aware of the greatness of Krishna and His divinity. It is based on his deep faith in Krishna that Arjuna chose to have the Master assist him unarmed as his charioteer, while Duryodhana chose Krishna’s vast Yadava army.

Content: Despite the faith that Arjuna has in Krishna, he has doubts too. Doubts and faith are two sides of the same coin. You cannot have one without the other. At the intellectual level, Arjuna had shed his doubts. At the emotional level he had shed his doubts. But at the being level, at the very core of his being, Arjuna was still troubled by what he was about to do.

Content: His chariot placed facing the Kaurava army, facing the teachers who had taught him all he knew, elders and

Content: 39

Content: relatives whom he loved dearly, Arjuna was overcome with deep doubts. 'What is the meaning of all this?' he asks. 'Why should I destroy all those whom I have so far revered and loved? What do I seek in return? What purpose will it serve even if I achieve what I seek?'

Content: Arjuna has no one else to ask but Krishna. Intuitively Arjuna sees his own Self in Krishna. Nara, the man, meets Narayana, the Divine. Arjuna knows at the depths of his being that Krishna and Krishna alone can provide the answers to the doubts that have risen within him.

Content: Arjuna is the quintessential thinking man. Unlike his brother Bhima and cousin Duryodhana, Arjuna is deeply troubled by what he perceives as right and wrong. His responses are those of intelligence, not animal instinct. Arjuna is able to see that what his senses tell him need not be true. He realizes that he needs discrimination, viveka, in sensory inputs to separate facts from truth.

Content: Step by step, Krishna clears Arjuna's doubts. First, Krishna addresses Arjuna's doubts of the intellect. Krishna explains to him the misconceptions that Arjuna has from the literal reading of the scriptures and what he has understood to be right and wrong. 'All the people in front of you are already dead,' says the Lord, 'I eliminated them long ago; why are you then worried? Do what you need to do.'

Content: Krishna then clears any lingering emotional doubts that Arjuna may have by explaining to him what He, the Master of the Universe, is all about. He tells Arjuna who He really is. After detailing all His glories, Krishna says that there is no end to His divine manifestations. Wherever there is something glorious, powerful and

Content: prosperous, Krishna is in existence. Krishna concludes, saying that there is no need for detailed knowledge, and that He supports all of Existence within a fragment of His Divine Self.

Content: And now, finally, the time has come for Arjuna to see Krishna as He truly is. Arjuna is standing on the last step. He beseeches, 'My delusion has been dispelled and I am now aware of Your divinity; please show me now who You really are.'

Content: And yet, Arjuna still hesitates. He wants to know, but he is not sure if he can bear to experience the truth. He says one phrase clearly, 'If you think I can behold Your Form,' which indicates that there is already some fear in him.

Content: He also has doubts. Yes, Krishna said that He had already destroyed all of Arjuna's enemies. But physically they are in front of Arjuna. He believes what Krishna says. But his senses tell him a different tale.

Content: It is not important what others think; what is important is what we think. We should be ready to take the responsibility and face whatever comes. Even simple truths or experiences cannot be given so easily, since the receiver must have the maturity to hold what he has received.

Content: In one of our publications titled, 'Swamiji as We Know Him,' there is a chapter, 'In the Arms of the Master.' It tells the story of how one of the devotees was constantly nagging me for an experience, much like Arjuna asks here. I advised the person to meditate but the person

Content: 41

Content: insisted on a personal experience. The experience is not like a coconut to be given away! The receiver had to have the maturity to hold it. This went on for six months and she would not listen; she kept on asking. Then I eventually decided it was time.

Content: In the narration of the account, she says that she felt her base itself being shaken, she felt herself being without boundary and cried out to me to stop because she could not take it anymore. For two days she was bedridden and she went on to say that I was thoughtless to have given her what I did!

Content: In 2005, during the pilgrimage to the char dham (sacred sites) in the Himalayas, a devotee from the USA kept asking me for a darshan of Mahavatar Baba. Mahavatar Baba, the parama guru of Paramahamsa Yogananda, lives eternally in these parts. He blessed me with my name before my Self Realization, so He is, in fact, the parama guru of my lineage. I said to her that there was nothing I could do but if she had faith He would appear. When she was riding a pony on the way from Gaurikund to Kedar, she saw Baba passing by. When she told me about this, I felt her hand and found that she had indeed had an experience. I told her that she would be experiencing the effects of that energy for quite some time. For six months her body was adjusting to that intense energy experience. She was healed when I visited the USA on my next trip, after about six months!

Content: Here Arjuna says, 'If you think I can behold your Cosmic Form, My Lord, show me Your unmasked, manifested Universal Self.' Please understand, before

Content: entering into the experience you must have the courage to take whatever comes.

Content: There are people I know, who after meditating for about a year, start experiencing the state of boundarilessness. They get frightened and shaken and afraid of losing themselves. I tell them that the meditation itself was to give them the experience of boundarilessness. It is like taking all the trouble to invite a guest to your house and when he does arrive, you are surprised at his arrival! Invariably when they have the experience for the first time, they are shaken and try to escape.

Content: In many instances, during the darkness meditations in the first-level LBP or in the second-level NSP courses, people come to the point of losing their body consciousness. They become scared and refuse to go along with the experience. After the meditation session is over, they tell me what happened. By then it is too late, they have missed the opportunity!

Content: This is also the case with people who practice mantra intensely. When the Divine starts giving them the experience, they are shaken by fear and run away. When you are meditating on the Divine, a mantra or God, do not try to escape when you get the vision or darshan. Please understand that the Divine will never disturb you, only your fear disturbs you. When you have the experience, have the courage to go with it. With the Divine, nothing is too much.

Content: Ramakrishna asks Vivekananda, ‘If you see the amritasaagara, the ocean of nectar, how will you drink from it?’

Content: Vivekananda says he would become a fly, sit by the

Content: 43

Content: edge of the ocean and begin to drink it slowly. Ramakrishna says, 'Fool! Jump into it and drink!'

Content: Vivekananda fears that he would die if he did that. Ramakrishna says beautifully, 'It is the ocean of nectar, how will you die?' Amrita means nectar, that which guarantees immortality. By drinking it you cannot die. How would you die by jumping into this ocean of immortality?

Content: Therefore, don't worry about overdoing it in spirituality. There is nothing called too much in spiritual energy and spiritual experience. There can never be too much of bhakti or devotion, too much of the Divine, too much of spirituality or bliss.

Content: Here, Arjuna says 'If you think I can behold your Cosmic Form...' Arjuna wants the experience but puts the responsibility on Krishna. He wants the sweet but not diabetes! Of course, the Divine sweet can never make you a diabetic.

Content: A small story:

Content: I had occasion to visit Melkote, the place where Ramanujacharya had lived.

Content: The sweetness of the prasadam was so tasty and so intense. Iyengars are good cooks. Vaishnavites love good food because Vishnu is a God who accepts everything. He is the Lord of Lakshmi, of all good things in life. He is unlike Shiva who sits in a burial ground, eats by begging, is covered with ash, has an old bull for a vehicle, and snakes for company!

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: I feared that the devotees would have become diabetic but was surprised when I was told there was no diabetic in the entire village, although everyone consumed the prasadam daily! Understand, food offered to God gets energized and becomes amrita or nectar. The mantra that we chant cleanses and energizes the food that is offered as prasadam.

Content: I would like to tell you about important research done on water. I have mentioned this before but it is so important that it is worth repeating here.

Content: In the movie, ‘What the Bleep Do We Know?’ the recently released book, The Hidden Messages in Water, is discussed. A Japanese doctor experimented by chanting positive words like peace, bliss, happiness, etc. before some glasses of water labeled with these words. He then repeated the procedure before other glasses of water by chanting negative words like war, violence, anger, etc. He also chanted the Dhammapada, Buddha’s teachings before some other glasses of water. He labeled all of them according to the messages given to each of them.

Content: He then froze all these glasses of water and photographed the ice crystals as seen under a microscope; the results were startling. Those ice crystals from the water that received positive messages appeared as clear as jewels, as beautiful as diamonds. The ice crystals from the water that received negative messages were ugly to look at. Those crystals from the water that received Dhammapada chanting appeared to radiate calmness and peace.

Content: 45

Content: Masaru Emoto repeated these experiments hundreds of times to prove that our thoughts affect the water we drink. This is why Masters from ancient times taught people to chant mantras standing in the Ganga. The whole river would be energized by the energy of millions of devotees chanting!

Content: The water brought by the Englishmen from Britain in the days of East India Company would usually spoil within a month when they came to India. However, the water carried back with them from Calcutta (Ganga water) would stay fresh until they reached England and longer.

Content: Research conducted by them showed that water from the Ganga had the ability to purify itself. This is why the Ganga is never polluted despite so much polluting material being dumped into it.

Content: Likewise, when food is put before the deity in a temple where mantras are chanted constantly, the food absorbs the pure, spiritual energy. It starts radiating the energy of the Divine positive qualities. One cannot fall sick by eating prasad.

Content: With Divine Energy, the effect is always positive, never negative. You cannot die in the amrita saagara, the ocean of nectar. When it comes to the Divine, all you need to do is jump into It with your whole being. All you need do is to relax into It for transformation.

Content: Arjuna says:

Content: manyase yadi thachhakyam maya drashtumiti prabho yogeshwara tato me tvam arshayaa'tmaanamavyayam

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: 'If You think I am able to behold, O My Lord, Master of all mystic power, please show me Your Cosmic Form.'

Content: Many of you are like Arjuna. In fact, all of you are like Arjuna. You do not wish to take any risks. Master has to calculate all risks for you. You want the Master to make the experience risk-free, safe and pleasant. Unfortunately, it does not work that way. Yes, the experience is bliss, it is liberating, but that blissful experience destroys your identity, kills the ego and recreates the Divine in you.

Content: If you wish to be as you were, do not ask for the experience. The Master's job is to transform. The Master is a surgeon, the surgeon of egos. Once you come to Him, it is a point of no return. I tell my followers that once they enter the gates of my ashram, they have made a life-long, no-return commitment. Even if they go out, they cannot get Me out!

Content: There is no such thing as partial surrender to a Master. There is no such thing as, 'Please give me what I can take. Let me take a sip and see if I like it. If I do I shall ask You for more. If not, I shall not take anymore.'

Content: Of course, the Master knows your readiness far better than you do. That is why I work on you in stages. As long as you are not ready, what I give you is brain and eye candy, that's all. You can gaze in happiness and go away. The form is all that you can take. It is only when your seriousness of purpose is established that I can start working on you without fear that you will run away from the operating table.

Content: 47

Content: Till then you only behave under the delusion that you have surrendered. It is one more fantasy, that is all.

Content: On one of our Himalayan trips, I decided not to trek to Gomukh, the origin of Ganga, which is at over 13,000 feet altitude. We stopped at Gangotri. I told the group that I was not willing to go further since there could be snow slides. But I told them that if any one of them felt they must go and felt adventurous, they could carry on. My body language clearly indicated they should not go, as it was not safe. But I needed to give them their space and let them decide.

Content: A dozen people trekked to Gomukh the next morning, without even informing the group leaders. This caused not only confusion but also concern, as there were in fact land and snow slides on the way. That evening, when asked by the group leaders why they went despite my cautions, one of the people who went said he had surrendered to me, and that I would take care!

Content: This is not surrender. This is ego, negative ego! You make the Master responsible for your idiotic behavior. If there were a true spirit of surrender, these people would have listened when I warned them not to go.

Content: The brahmacharis who train at the ashram understand the power of the Master’s words. They listen and listen completely. They listen without applying logic and reason. Logic and reason come with ego. To be egoless, you need to be mindless and shed logic.

Content: Arjuna is not like all my devotees! Arjuna is an evolved disciple. What he says only seems to reflect

Content: what an ordinary person would have said. In fact, what Arjuna implies here is far more. 'Please give me Your cosmic vision,' Arjuna pleads, 'if it may please You. I am keen to have it, but the decision is Yours. Let whatever You decide happen!'

Content: This is what my initiated disciples do when they heal. They drop my form, they drop their ego and they also drop the intention to heal. All they say is, 'Let whatever good may happen, happen.' The healing energy of the Cosmos is intelligent and it flows where it should, when it should, and does what it needs to do.

Content: Arjuna is in the same mood. 'Let what happens be decided by You,' he says to Krishna. What he implies is this: 'I have heard all that You have said. My questions have disappeared and my delusions have evaporated. I truly understand Your greatness. May I see You in Your true form?

Content: 'I have no right to ask all this of You. It is not any penance I may have done that makes me deserve this. It is not that I have reached a level of intellectual understanding of You that makes me deserve this. It is not that I have reached the peak of devotion that makes me deserve Your vision. I have no right to demand.

Content: However, in all humility, as Your devotee, as one who surrenders to You, I ask of You to show me who You really are. Please show me Your entire splendor, Your valor, Your wisdom, Your truth and all that You really are!'

Content: 49

Content: Q: Master, I am confused. Surrender itself means that you leave the decision to the Master. But I hear you say that when someone leaves that decision to You, they do it out of ego. I do not understand.

Content: Please understand this. If you have truly surrendered yourself to me, as Arjuna does to Krishna when he asks for the Cosmic Vision, you will not complain later if you lose your eyes!

Content: That is the difference.

Content: All disciples claim that they have surrendered. When I tell them to come and stay at the ashram, they will find a hundred excuses. I am telling them to stay at the ashram for their benefit, not because living with these people makes my life any better. All talk about surrender is theoretical. All that surrender evaporates the moment some material benefit is being violated, or even thought to be violated.

Content: I do know where each one of my disciples is and how far they can go, how far they can be pushed to realize their potential. When many of them want to be ashamites or want to wear saffron, that is why I decline. I decline out of compassion because they are not ready. But some keep insisting. They insist they have what it takes. Ultimately you have to decide upon your destiny. So, I relent and oblige.

Content: Some of you grasp that little finger and swim ashore. You have that courage, that determination to make it happen. That is your miracle; I am only a guide. But many of you ask to be carried. That is not possible.

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: Unless you make it on your own steam, the path becomes worthless. Of course, even what you think is your effort is not your effort. But what you think is what matters.

Content: You may have read this story before, 'Footprints on the Sand,' a truly beautiful tale.

Content: A man was stranded in the desert and was desperate. He cried to Jesus for help: 'Please carry me out of this desert!' There was no answer. He plodded on and on. Finally he reached the end of the desert.

Content: He then complained to Jesus: 'Master, you were so unkind. When I needed You most, You never responded. I hoped You would support me. I kept looking for Your footprints on the sand, beside mine. But I saw only one set of footprints. Where were You when I needed You?'

Content: A voice rang out. 'You fool! I was the one who carried you. The footprints you saw were Mine.'

Content: God does not leave a visiting card for you. He does not want anything from you. He knows that you rarely express gratitude. You will complain if you don't get what you want, but you will never remember to thank Him!

Content: 51

Content: 11.5 Bhagavan said: O Partha, behold My hundreds and thousands of forms, Of different divine sorts, of various colors and shapes.

Content: 11.6 O Bharata, see the Aditya, the Vasu, the Rudra, the Ashvin, the Marut and Many wonders you have never seen before.

Content: 11.7 O Arjuna, now in My body, all the moving and the unmoving,

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: Whatever else you wish to see, everything integrated into this body.

Content: 11.8 But you cannot see Me with these your physical eyes.

Content: Let Me give you the Divine Eye; behold My divine power!

Content: In this shloka, this verse, Krishna summarizes the entire chapter as He explains the whole darshan. It needs to be read and understood as one verse.

Content: Krishna says, ‘O Partha, behold the hundreds and thousands of my Divine forms. These are diverse Divine forms, of diverse colors, shapes and sizes. O Bharata, see the different manifestations of Aditya, Vasu, Rudra, Ashvini Kumara, Marut and many wonderful beings whom no one has ever seen before.’

Content: But before He gives darshan of the Universal form, He mentions an important, yet beautiful word. He says, ‘O Arjuna! You cannot see my form with ordinary eyes. To behold this form, you would need divya netra, the third eye or the Divine Eye.

Content: ‘Divyam dadaami te chakshuhu...’ Let me give you the Divine Eye to enable you to see and experience Me.’ From this verse He starts giving the Vishvaroopa Darshana.

Content: Krishna says, ‘O Arjuna, may you start seeing whatever exists, the sthaavara and the jangama (immovable and movable), the Universe that no ordinary man can see. Even the great sages, the rishi and the muni have not seen this sight and are not aware of it.’

Content: 53

Content: BhagavadGita

Content: Arjuna was a personal friend of Krishna and their attachment to each other as friends was deep. They had known each other from their early years and even though Krishna was close to all the Pandava brothers and also the Kaurava, His bond with Arjuna was special. Over and above their friendship, Arjuna was a very intelligent and learned man in his own right.

Content: But neither the deep friendship nor his intelligence or wisdom could give Arjuna any idea of the real nature, the true nature of Krishna, and about His many facets. There are so many forms and manifestations of the different energies that humans have not even heard of. Krishna, in His infinite compassion and love for Arjuna, shows him all these wonderful forms.

Content: Here is a wonderful phenomenon. With all the advancements made in science today, man can see what is happening even in the remote corners of the planet Earth. You know, there is a beautiful software available called Google Earth. With this, you can see your own house even if it is in some remote village of India. You can see Bidadi ashram. You can see everything. But there is no software, no telescope or equipment invented so far, by which man can see what is happening in other parts of the Universe.

Content: Now Krishna gives Arjuna the power to see what is happening in the whole Universe, not only in the present, but in the past and the future also.

Content: Here again are the three questions, which is the essence of the whole chapter.

Content: 54

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: Can the Divine Form be seen?

Content: What is the qualification to see the Divine Form?

Content: What really happens when you see the Divine Form?

Content: I tell you categorically - it is possible to see the Divine Form. There are many enlightened Masters who have experienced this Consciousness.

Content: Let me give you an instance from my life.

Content: After nine long years of tapas, I was completely frustrated at one point. I wondered if I was wasting my whole life reading books, following what they said and applying them to my life. Was there really something called enlightenment or was it a waste of my whole life?

Content: At one point I began to fear that I had wasted the very essence of my life, my youth, by pouring all of it into tapas or penance. Was it really worth the sacrifice?

Content: All of a sudden at one point in time, I felt myself going into deep depression. Actually, I later realized that this was not depression. It was a desperate situation, a deep personal quest, and an urge to do or die. Now I know that one needs to reach this stage before one can realize the truth.

Content: Whatever had to be done as spiritual sadhana, I had done and had not left even an inch untrried. For example, at one point I created a firewall six feet in diameter, sat inside it and chanted continuously so that I would not fall asleep. In this way, I had tried hundreds of sadhana or techniques to the best of my ability. Since nothing was still happening to me, I concluded that there was either

Content: 55

Content: no such thing as enlightenment or it was something I could not achieve.

Content: I strongly began to think that enlightenment was simply something that some people were cheating humanity with, for their own ego-fulfilment. I began to doubt and lose faith in the whole system. The photo of Ramakrishna, who had all along been my inspiration, the photo I used to worship everyday, I threw away in disgust, depression and anger and with such force that the glass frame broke.

Content: At that time I was staying in Omkareshwar, in a forest in Madhya Pradesh, on the banks of the holy river Narmada. I had a japamala, prayer beads, with which I used to say my prayers or penance for hours together. It was my constant companion and was something to which I had given utmost respect, almost like my life-line.

Content: In my anger and depression, I threw the mala into the river Narmada and cast the mantra out of my mind. I decided, ‘No more meditation, no more spirituality. Enough!' I had had enough of the game being played by the so-called enlightened Masters. I simply threw everything away, dropped everything.

Content: I then walked into the river Narmada with my eyes closed. The river was some sixty feet deep at that point. I just walked, and when I opened my eyes, I was on the opposite bank of the river! I have to date no idea what happened. I have no idea whether there were rocks all along the path I walked on the river, or whether I floated or whether the river parted. But I did not have

Content: the resolve to walk back through the river again, that much I know! To return to the point I started from, I had to walk to the nearest bridge, many miles away!

Content: The seventh day after this incident, I joined the Masters in their game! The experience of enlightenment and Cosmic Consciousness simply happened to me. It never left me afterwards.

Content: So to answer this question, 'Can this be experienced?', the definitive answer is yes. As a person who was just like you, I tell you out of courtesy the simple truth, 'Yes, honestly, it can be experienced.'

Content: This is the solid truth; a promise that this can be experienced. Please understand, I have no vested interest to convince you of this ideology. All I have is simple courtesy, like informing a friend of the traffic situation in a particular place and guiding him through a different route.

Content: It is definitely possible to experience this truth, this Cosmic Form, in our lives. Never think, 'This is not for me.' It is for everybody! However, unless you are sure of the possibility of having this beautiful, intense experience, listening to all this is a waste of time. If you think this is one more story, do not waste your time here.

Content: The first thing that you need to know is that it is possible. Only then what Krishna says will work on our being. I will be really happy if you go out after experiencing this Cosmic Form. At least go out with a glimpse of it. If these words of Krishna are to work on you, you must first be convinced of

Content: the possibility of it happening to you and know that these are not just words. Let me tell you openly and directly, from my experience, 'It is possible.'

Content: These words of Krishna are not mere words; they are not mere shaastra, scriptural words. These words are sutra, techniques that go deep inside you and work on you with amazing results. All that you need is complete trust in the Master that what He says will happen. I promise you it will.

Content: Next, what is the qualification?

Content: Basically, by giving this experience to Arjuna, Krishna proves that there is no need for any qualification because Arjuna himself has no qualification. Arjuna neither took the responsibility nor understood fully the teachings of Krishna. He was simply fortunate to be in the presence of Krishna, that's all. Likewise, you too should be fortunate to be here and not caught in some traffic jam! There were thousands of possibilities for you to be elsewhere; so many options were available to you. But out of all of them, you chose to be here. This is the only qualification required.

Content: In fact, you are the Arjuna who missed Krishna in an earlier form. You are here now, listening or reading, not by any mere accident or divine coincidence. You are here and now for a reason. That is qualification enough. Make sure that you do not miss Krishna again this time!

Content: By coming here every day your unconscious and subconscious mind has already accepted whatever is being

Content: said here. If this had not happened, you would not return here the following day. You would not be listening to or reading this chapter.

Content: A person told me that when he woke up every day, he was waiting for 5:30 in the evening so that he could attend the discourse! If you are waiting, it means that all these words have already entered your being. So have the trust that you are ready for this experience.

Content: One of the problems is that even if people are qualified, they do not have the trust or belief that they are qualified! This is because society and religious preachers have blamed you continually for several wrongs and created a kind of guilt in you.

Content: Because of this you have lost faith and confidence in yourself. Now, after having listened for all these days, your still being here is proof that your unconscious mind has accepted these ideas. Your conscious mind may struggle with the question of why you are here, but the fact that you are here shows that unconsciously you have begun enjoying these ideas.

Content: You are fortunate to fall in tune with the great thought of Krishna. After the shloka let us enter into a meditation to have at least a glimpse of what Parabrahma Krishna gave Arjuna. Arjuna had no qualification to receive what he got from Krishna. When He could give it to Arjuna, why not to us?

Content: First, we acknowledge the possibility of having the experience. We have all understood that it is possible to have it. Next, the qualification: we have all understood

Content: that simply by being here we are qualified for the experience.

Content: Somebody once asked Ramana Maharishi what was the qualification for enlightenment. Bhagavan replied that merely being alive, simply existing, was the only qualification required!

Content: At the most, the only qualification can be said to be openness. If you did not have it, you would not come here every day. We never allow the belief that we have the qualification to enter into our being. I tell you, drop everything! You are qualified by your very presence here!

Content: Next, what happens when you have the experience?

Content: Krishna’s words -

Content: na tu maam shakyase drashtum

Content: anenaiva swachakshushaa

Content: divyam dadaami te chakshuh

Content: pashyah me yogamaishwaram

Content: ‘Arjuna, you cannot see Me with these ordinary eyes. You need the Divine Eye, the Third Eye, divyachakshu. To see My Cosmic Form, I give you the Divine Eye.’

Content: What is this Divine Eye?

Content: Let me tell you my experience that happened when I was twelve years old.

Content: During that age, I used to do a particular meditation, or rather, I used to play with a technique given to me by a Master. When I was about ten years old the great Master Annamalai Swamigal, disciple of Ramana

Content: Maharishi, first taught me the technique of exploring to see where thoughts originated.

Content: Once when I visited him with my parents, he was addressing a group of seekers and was saying, 'We are not the body, we are atman, the spirit. No pain or suffering touches us.'

Content: I wondered how this could be, for if my mother beat me, I could feel the pain! (In India, if kids were mischievous, they would be roundly beaten, you could not call 911!) To experiment, I went home and cut my thigh with a knife to see if I had pain or not. I bled profusely.

Content: Naturally, it not only hurt me, but I had to be taken to the hospital for the wound to be stitched, with more 'pooja' (scolding) from my mother! I had both pain and suffering. I wondered why this Swami had taught us such a thing as 'no suffering or pain'!

Content: Experimenting on others was easy. Arjuna was intelligent. After understanding everything, he started killing others and never experimented on himself!

Content: I approached the Swami and related what had happened to me.

Content: First he asked me, 'Did I ask you to go and cut yourself?'

Content: He then made a profound statement that transformed my life. He said, 'You may have pain and suffering now, but do not worry. Your attitude of analyzing and searching for the truth, your courage to experiment with truth, will liberate you from all pains, so go ahead!'

Content: 61

Content: He then advised me to start searching for the source of my thoughts. Of course, at that age I was only irritated by his comments and my attention was on the fruits and sweets that devotees had brought him. I was hoping he would give me some in consolation! Honestly, I neither understood nor was convinced of what he said.

Content: However, after a few days I began to playfully and casually try out the technique of trying to see the origin of my thoughts. I did not do this with any expectation or idea. All I knew was what the Swami had told me - that I would go beyond pain or suffering if I did this technique. I had no concept of God, Brahman, Atman or Gnana.

Content: One evening, at the foothills of Arunachala, I was sitting on a rock known locally as the Coral Rock, trying out the same technique with eyes closed. I had fallen into deep meditation. Suddenly something opened, something seemed to happen inside my being, a feeling of being pulled or sucked inside.

Content: The next moment it was as if a door had opened inside me, and I had complete 360-degree vision, both laterally and vertically. I could see on all four sides - the temple that was behind me, the hill that was in front of me, and the city that was on my left and right. I could see vertically too - the sky, the rock on which I was sitting, again the temple behind me.

Content: For normal people who have only a maximum of 120-degree vision, I know this is very difficult to comprehend. All I can do is promise solemnly that it did

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: happen! No other intellectual explanation is possible. Not only was I able to see all around, I was also able to feel that whatever I was seeing was Me. Whether they were plants or rocks or the city or the hill, whatever I could see, I felt they were all just Me. The experience was so intense and ecstatic that it was more than three or four hours before I opened my eyes. I felt feverish with bliss and this mood continued for three days.

Content: But after this I was overtaken by a fear that there was something wrong with me. I thought a ghost had possessed me and I decided never to go to that rock again. I even began to avoid that route, which I normally took to go to school. I related my experience to an elderly sanyasini who was my mentor. She held my hand and seeing the energy, exclaimed, ‘You are not possessed by any ghost. You are possessed by God!’ She encouraged me to continue with meditations but I never dared to do so for the next six months and was even afraid to close my eyes!

Content: I related my experience to a close friend of mine. I told him about my 360-degree vision and my not knowing what was happening to me, etc. He did not believe me until I proved it to him by telling him about an ant climbing up the tree behind me, and correctly telling which side of the coin that he hid in his hand was exposed. He ran away from me in terror, never to return!

Content: He was in the ashram recently and said to one of the ashramites, ‘I was the first person to receive Energy Darshan, but I missed it!’

Content: 63

Content: But despite the fear I experienced, the whole body was bubbling with joy and ecstasy.

Content: So welcome was the feeling, that I had a small temptation to go to the rock again. I never really understood what had happened. A year later another enlightened person gave me the explanation; the seeking, however, started after this experience. Nine years of tapas followed. All this tapas was in order to have this experience again. When it did come next time, both body and mind were ready and the experience stayed within my being.

Content: The vision of 360 degrees is what Krishna means by divyachakshu, trinetra, Divine Eye or the Third Eye, also called ajna chakra. When this eye opens you will see 360 degrees not only in horizontal but vertical dimension too. You will see the whole Existence as you and experience it as You. This experience is what Krishna calls Cosmic Consciousness.

Content: I felt that everything I saw about me was living, just as how we feel our living bodies, expanding the body consciousness to the Universal Consciousness. When you feel the whole universe as you would your own body, it can be called a Cosmic Experience. Unfortunately, we do not feel alive even within our own bodies!

Content: Just as I was frightened when I had my first experience, Arjuna too was frightened. In such instances, a living Master is required for help and guidance. I am often asked this question, 'Who was your Master,' to which I reply, 'Arunachala.' Arunachala, the sacred hill of Tiruvannamalai, my birthplace, is a living Master. For a premature baby to survive, it must be put into the

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: incubator. Similarly, Arunachala is the incubator for the enlightened person-to-be. The energy of Arunachala takes care just by your being near it.

Content: 'Let me give you the Third Eye, to enable you to experience the Universal Consciousness.'

Content: You need to understand that after this verse, neither Krishna nor Arjuna is speaking. Suddenly, it is Sanjaya who is speaking. After the first chapter in Bhagavad Gita until now, there is no word from Sanjaya. But here it is he who is speaking. This is a symbolic representation.

Content: Arjuna is unable to speak because he is in the ecstatic experience. Krishna does not speak because his voice is beyond audibility. His voice is in the Cosmic frequency, which is not audible to us. So Sanjaya interprets.

Content: Q: Master, You have said that God is bliss, and God is love. So, when we experience bliss and love, are we God too?

Content: Yes, when you experience true love and true bliss you are in God Consciousness, there is no doubt about it.

Content: All great masters say God is love personified. We do not know God. God is absolutely a stranger. When we utter the word 'God' it is hollow and empty because we have not experienced anything of God. But the word 'love' is full of meaning; it is warm. Love is something we have experienced at one time or another, even if inadequately. God is a mere concept to all of us; there is no experience.

Content: 65

Content: There is something of love that has been experienced by everybody. It may not be in its purest form, it may be much adulterated; but water is water even though it is muddy, and love is love even though it is full of lust. Something of the Divine remains always present in it. However dark the night is, a ray of light is still light and not darkness. So it is with love.

Content: Love more and you will be coming closer and closer to the understanding of Cosmic Consciousness. Being a Christian or Hindu achieves nothing. One simply follows a dead dogma. But by being in love with a Master, when you are in love with God, something certainly opens up in you and your heart starts growing. And when the heart blooms in its absolute glory, you are Christ or Krishna.

Content: I am not here to create Christians but to create Christs. My effort is not to create Buddhists but Buddhas.

Content: You cannot relate with the trees through logic but there are ways to relate with trees. If you become open, if you feel the being of the tree, if you feel the texture of the tree, if you hug the tree, close your eyes and simply feel its being, you will be contacting it on a totally different plane. Then even rocks start speaking to you. Then the whole Existence is alive, suddenly alive. Everything comes alive; it is no longer dead. That life is Cosmic Consciousness. In the East we call it Buddha-hood. In Christianity you call it Christ Consciousness. Hindus call it Krishna Consciousness.

Content: Krishna, Christ and Buddha are synonymous. They are not confined to persons; please understand, they are states of being.

Content: It is of no use to follow anybody. The real thing is to love Christ, to love Buddha, to love Krishna; not as followers, but as fellow travelers because it is the same pilgrimage, the same journey you are on. You will be passing through the same places that Jesus passed through before he became Christ. You are then in bliss.

Content: One has to experience bliss. One has to prepare oneself for the great experience. Meditation simply prepares the ground and it helps you to open your eyes. It is healing. Once your eyes are healed you know what it is.

Content: Many times people asked Buddha, ‘What is bliss?’ and he would always say, ‘Just be with me and be silent for a few months, a few years, and whenever you are right, ripe, mature enough to know it, I will tell you.’ Many stayed with him and he would never tell them what it was.

Content: One day he would ask them, ‘Now do you want to know what bliss is?’ And they would say, ‘It can’t be said, but we ourselves know. We are grateful that you tricked us into bliss. You never said anything about it but you helped us to be silent, to be still.’

Content: When you are silent and still, something wells up within you. That is bliss. It is your innermost nature. But remember, it is an experience; it is not a theory, it is not a dogma, it is not contained in any scriptures. But it is

Content: written all over Existence, on each leaf of a tree, on each pebble on the seashore; you will only be able to see it when you have experienced it in the innermost shrine of your being. Then you will see it everywhere. Then the whole Existence is made of bliss and nothing else.

Content: Let bliss be a song that resounds in you. Let it be eternal. Let it be nithyananda.

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: A Thousand Blazing Suns

Content: 11.9 Sanjaya said:

Content: O King, having spoken thus, the great Lord of Yoga, Krishna, showed to Arjuna His supreme Cosmic Form,

Content: 11.10 Numerous mouths and eyes, with numerous wonderful sights, numerous divine ornaments, with numerous divine weapons uplifted,

Content: 11.11 Arjuna saw this Universal Form wearing divine garlands and clothing, anointed with celestial fragrances, wonderful, resplendent, endless, with faces on all sides.

Content: 11.12 If the splendor of a thousand suns were to blaze all together in the sky, it would be like the splendor of that mighty Being.

Content: 11.13 There, in the body of the God of Gods, the Pandava then saw the whole universe resting in One, with all its infinite parts.

Content: 11.14 Dhananjaya, filled with wonder, his hair standing on end, then bowed his head to the God and spoke with joined palms.

Content: These verses show the unlimited, never-ending, wonderful, all-pervading nature of the Lord.

Content: Ramakrishna says that when he experienced the Form, the Cosmic Consciousness, he could not pluck a single flower from a plant because he felt that all the plants were garlands offered to rajapurusha, God.

Content: Anyone who has had this experience is reborn. At one level this experience is one of boundarilessness. The body expands to fill everything. The entire universe is part of the body. There is no separation of the individual and the whole. The whole is part and the part is whole. At another level the whole universe exists within you. You are everything that you see around you. The grass outside the hut, the dog in the distance, the tree beyond, every single entity, animate and inanimate, resonates within you, as a part of you.

Content: When I tell my healers not to eat meat, it is not based on any theory that only animals have body, mind and spirit, and therefore it is a sin to kill and eat them. I say

Content: it because from my experience the energy of dead animals, meat, is not conducive to the energy of healing, that's all. There is no morality involved here. By such logic, are carnivorous animals sinners? Of course not!

Content: There is life in everything around us, every single thing, be it a rock, be it earth, be it a tree or an insect or animal. We share the same energy with them, they with us. When one experiences Cosmic Consciousness, collective consciousness, one realizes that we are all interconnected. We are all one.

Content: In that mood, plucking a flower hurts. A wild animal responds peacefully to your presence. There is no violence in Cosmic Consciousness. There is only acceptance and inclusion.

Content: This is what Arjuna saw in the universal form, an unlimited number of mouths, eyes and wonderful visions. The form was decorated with many celestial ornaments and bore many divine upraised weapons. He wore celestial garlands and garments. Many divine scents were smeared all over His body. All was wondrous, brilliant, unlimited, all-expanding.

Content: Here he sees unlimited number of mouths and eyes in Krishna. Now Arjuna sees 360 degrees in both horizontal and vertical dimensions. He sees the whole universe, all the people on the battlefield; all of them in Krishna, as the Universal Consciousness. He sees the Whole as his own Being.

Content: There is no boundary to Krishna's Universal Form. The word Vishnu, which is his real form, means one who

Content: expands infinitely. The splendor that Sanjaya talks about is beyond anything the mind can comprehend, because it is the source of all splendor.

Content: Notice, it is Sanjaya speaking these words, not Arjuna. Sanjaya is far from the battlefield and has been given the power to see what happens on the battlefield so that he can describe the events to his king Dhritarashtra. Now Sanjaya has the unbelievable fortune of witnessing the Divine Form of Krishna. Though Krishna says that this form is being shown only to Arjuna, by default Sanjaya has the great fortune to witness and participate in this vision.

Content: Arjuna is awestruck and is in silence. He is yet to speak. What he has witnessed is beyond anything that he could have imagined or asked for. But the silence is a very active silence. It is a silence in which he experiences the Truth of Krishna. It is a silence in which he is actively participating in the process and is being immersed.

Content: Those who wish to understand this logically, through their mind, are unfortunate. They just cannot. Even as the expression of an experience, this is beyond logic and rationale. In Tamil there is a proverb concerning such experiences. It says those who experience do not talk. Those who talk have not experienced.

Content: In the vast majority of cases it is true; but this is one of the exceptions. What is experienced is being expressed for the benefit of humanity. It is being expressed to give

Content: hope to the rest of humanity that it too can experience what Arjuna experienced with the grace of God.

Content: Such an experience need not be confined to one religion or another. Arjuna perceives Krishna’s Divine Form up to this point in time in a way that is familiar to him. Krishna is taking him in steps to provide him some comfort. A person of another religion may experience the Divine Form of the formless energy in a different manner. The Ultimate Energy behind and beyond both will be the same.

Content: Sanjaya then summarizes Arjuna’s reaction to the Divine Form of Krishna in the last few verses. Arjuna is still silent and it is Sanjaya who describes what happens.

Content: What Arjuna saw was beyond his understanding. Wherever he looked was Krishna; Krishna in many forms, many shapes, many non-forms and non-shapes. There are no words to describe what Arjuna saw. How does one describe what is beyond the mind, beyond logic, beyond words, beyond all comprehension?

Content: In the body of the Supreme Lord, Arjuna saw the whole Universe divided in different ways and at the same time united in one form. The Universe is divided into many parts such as the sun, moon, earth, planets and other bodies in space. Here he sees all of them as one form. You need to understand this description, which is so beautiful. Later we shall enter into a meditation and pray to the Parabrahma Krishna to give us all a glimpse of what Arjuna received.

Content: Arjuna is able to see the whole and at the same time all the parts. Even the word hologram that we now so commonly use to describe the totality of something preserved in a fragment does no justice to Arjuna’s vision. In a hologram, one needs to make the effort to see the whole in the fragment. In this divine vision granted to Arjuna, the whole existed with the part, with no separation, no discontinuity. The whole was part and the part was whole.

Content: Of all the people in the battlefield of Kurukshetra, only Arjuna had this great fortune to behold the Cosmic Vision of Krishna. Only he was granted the boon of divine vision to see the entire universe within Krishna. The vision that Arjuna beheld enveloped him completely. He was, in fact, part of that vision. He was the observer and yet part of what was being observed. In addition, he was the experience of that observation as well.

Content: Arjuna and Krishna grew up together from childhood. Krishna’s sister Subhadra was Arjuna’s wife. They had a deep relationship as friends. In this one moment, that relationship was redefined.

Content: Q: Master, You say that Arjuna’s relationship with Krishna was redefined. Earlier you had explained that Arjuna’s relationship with Krishna was one of friendship. What happens now?

Content: Five kinds of relationships are talked about between Master or God and disciple. These bhava, the five

Content: relationships, establish the role-play in the psychodrama of the Master and disciple.

Content: These are vatsalya bhava, matru bhava, dasa bhava, sakha bhava and madhura bhava.

Content: The love of the mother for the child, as between Yasodha and Krishna is vatsalya bhava. The mother need not be the biological mother, as indeed Yasodha is not. It is a relationship of total unconditional responsibility for another being.

Content: The relationship of a child to the mother is matru bhava, the kind of relationship Ramakrishna displayed to Mother Kali. Before he offered her food, Ramakrishna used to check if the idol of Kali was breathing with a thread held under her nose. This is a relationship of total trust.

Content: The absolute devotion that Hanuman had for Rama exemplifies dasa bhava, the Master-servant relationship. This is the most basic and stable of all such relationships, and one of unwavering acceptance and surrender.

Content: Arjuna's relationship to Krishna was traditionally one of friendship, sakha bhava. It was one of camaraderie, acceptance of one another and a feeling of equality.

Content: Finally, madhura bhava is the relationship of the beloved, of Meera to Krishna, the gopi to Krishna, one of absolute abandon with a total lack of self-consciousness.

Content: In most cases, the relationships are not absolute in time and space. They become mixed. In this particular instant, when Arjuna beheld the cosmic form of Krishna,

Content: all thoughts of friendship disappeared. He became the archetypal dasa, servant.

Content: Hands trembling, hair on-end, tears in his eyes, unable to comprehend what he was witnessing, Arjuna bowed down deep in front of his erstwhile friend and started speaking in deep ecstasy.

Content: Arjuna was not afraid of Krishna. What he now felt towards Krishna did not arise from his mind. It was involuntary. It was intuitive. You cannot make your hair stand on-end even if you try the whole night and day. Ecstasy cannot be willed. Arjuna is in adoration. He is in awe. He realizes that he is in the presence of an energy that has no equal. Nothing he has ever experienced before comes close. His being opens while his mind rests.

Content: In fact, Arjuna at this moment is beyond the five defined bhava, in the state of maha bhava.

Content: 11.15 Arjuna said; O God, I see all the gods in Your body and many types of beings. Brahma, the Lord of creation, seated on the lotus, all the sages and celestial serpents.

Content: 11.16 I see Your infinite form on every side, with many arms, stomachs, mouths and eyes; Neither the end, nor the middle nor the beginning do I see, O Lord of the Universe, O Cosmic Form.

Content: 11.17 I see You with crown, club and discus; a mass of radiance shining everywhere,

Content: Difficult to look at, blazing all round like the burning fire and Sun in infinite brilliance.

Content: 11.18 You are the imperishable; the Supreme Being worthy to be known. You are the great treasure house of this universe.

Content: You are the imperishable Protector of the eternal order. I believe You are the eternal Being.

Content: 11.19 I see You without a beginning, middle or end, infinite in power and with many arms,

Content: The Sun and the Moon being Your eyes, the blazing fire your mouth, the whole universe scorched by Your radiance.

Content: 11.20 This space between earth and the heavens and everything is filled by You alone.

Content: O Great Being, having seen Your wonderful and terrible form, the three worlds tremble with fear.

Content: 11.21 Many celestials enter into You; some praise You in fear with folded hands;

Content: Many great Masters and sages hail and adore You.

Content: 11.22 The Rudra, Aditya, Vasu, Sadhya, Vishvadeva, Ashvin, Marut, Ushmapa and a host of Gandharva, Yaksha, Asura and Siddha are all looking at You in amazement.

Content: 11.23 Having seen Your immeasurable Form with many mouths and eyes, with many arms, thighs and feet, with many stomachs and frightening tusks,

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: O Mighty-armed, the worlds are terrified and so am I.

Content: 11.24 Seeing You, Your Form touching the sky, flaming in many colors, mouths wide open, large fiery eyes, O Vishnu,

Content: I find neither courage nor peace; I am frightened.

Content: As Arjuna is in the same consciousness as the Lord, this verse should actually start with 'Bhagavan uvaacha.' These statements are said to come from Him for us to record.

Content: These are such beautiful ways that he describes the Form. You may wonder why he does so. Please understand, he does so to inspire us to work to achieve this Form and this experience, to move in this path. Arjuna is showing us the way.

Content: He says, 'O Lord! I can see all the gods and deities in Your body. I can see the special union of living entities. I can see Brahma seated on the Lotus flower. I can see all the sages and divine serpents. O Lord of the Universe, I see many arms, stomachs, faces, eyes and your limitless form. O Universal Form, I cannot see your beginning, middle or end.'

Content: As a matter of fact, when you begin to see 360 degrees in both horizontal and vertical dimensions, there really is no beginning, middle or end to see. It is a continuum. It is like seeing one of these special movies on a circular screen. Where would you describe the beginning to be, the end to be or the middle to be? It is an infinite circle. The Divine is an infinite circle, with no beginning, no end and therefore no middle. Without a

Content: 79

Content: beginning and an end, to talk about the middle makes no sense.

Content: The Form is difficult to see in its sheer glowing radiance, spreading on all sides like blazing fire or the immeasurable brightness of the Sun. Yet Arjuna sees this glowing Form everywhere adorned with various crowns and discs. He sees Krishna wearing the diadem, holding the mace and discus.

Content: Arjuna says: 'Your magnificence is shining everywhere, from all sides, difficult to see. You are blazing from all sides with the luster of the Sun, limitless.'

Content: Part of what Arjuna sees here is the traditional representation of Vishnu. Vishnu is always depicted with His weapons of mace and discus, the gada and chakra, and wearing the jewel-studded crown. Vishnu is also depicted resting on the ocean of milk upon the giant serpent Adisesha, with Brahma rising from His navel upon a lotus flower.

Content: Some of what he sees is formless energy. He perceives radiance more powerful than a thousand suns, blazing and dazzling, impossible to look at even with his newly endowed divine vision. What Arjuna sees is beyond any sensory perception, something that could be experienced in that moment in time, impossible to express.

Content: Suddenly the scene changes in these verses.

Content: Arjuna is terrified. What he is seeing now is quite different from what he expected when he asked to see Krishna's Divine Form.

Content: Arjuna is now incoherent. What he keeps saying is neither logical nor well thought out. What he sees he reproduces to the best of his mental abilities.

Content: Arjuna is convinced, seeing the Universal Form of Krishna, that what he sees is the Supreme Being, the Purusha, the imperishable, the very origin of all, the Eternal.

Content: He says, 'You are without origin, middle or end with unlimited power. You spread throughout the heavens and through all other directions. O Supreme Soul, paramatman, after having seen your wonderful form, all the worlds and the whole universe is trembling with fear. All the celestial beings are shuddering before this form and entering into this formless form, some of them afraid, offering prayers with folded hands, along with hosts of realized sages praising this form in silent acceptance and wonderment.'

Content: There is no other record so clear about the cosmic frequency of the Universal Form except in the Gita. What Arjuna perceives is what is always present, but which he normally has no capability to see. Now he sees Krishna in all His manifestations, from the highest to the lowest frequency levels of energy with nothing filtered.

Content: But suddenly the Form seems to change from the magnificent, comforting and expanded form, to one that is now disturbing. It is still not clear to Arjuna what is happening, but he can anticipate that something he is about to see is not going to be as pleasant as what he had seen so far.

Content: 81

Content: BhagavadGita

Content: What Arjuna sees disturbs him.

Content: 'O All pervading Vishnu! I see You with your many radiating colors, burning fire in your gaping mouth, heating up the entire Universe with radiance, touching the sky, and Your Form unnerves me. My heart trembles in fear and I have no courage or peace to behold You.'

Content: Until now Arjuna was saying there was no beginning, middle or end. Now he says the Form is touching the sky; an indication that he is settling, coming down from the experience. 'Seeing your gaping mouth, your great glowing eyes, overcome by fear, I can no longer maintain my mental steadiness or equilibrium.'

Content: Please understand, as long as you want to maintain the equilibrium of your mind, you will be in this mad world. There is no such thing as equilibrium. What we think of as equilibrium is not so.

Content: Arjuna says he wants equilibrium, meaning that he wants his mind to be under his intellectual control. He wants to know the cause and effect and feel that they are in his control. As long as these are under your control, you feel as if you are a leader; your ego is strong. But the moment these are taken away from you, you feel at a loss and no more a leader. You are just a drop in the ocean. He is afraid of that and is not able to stay in that same state.

Content: The wave in the ocean is part of the ocean. As long as it feels itself to be part of the ocean, there is no separation. However, when the wave experiences its own identity, creates its own identity, it no longer feels itself a part of the

Content: 82

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: ocean. It feels itself to be a separate entity. When it is time to merge back into that ocean, it is afraid. When it looks back at the ocean with a feeling of separation, it feels afraid.

Content: When Arjuna had his first glimpse of the Cosmic vision of Krishna, he identified with the vision. There was no separation. Now, there is separation. Along with separation there is fear.

Content: Q: Master, you said bliss is God, and we do not experience God. So God only remains a concept. But you have said we can experience bliss, which means that we can experience God. How then do we work towards achieving bliss?

Content: Bliss is not an achievement. It is not an end product. It is not a goal. It is not something that is going to happen in the future. One cannot desire it, one cannot be ambitious for it; it is already in us, it is our very being.

Content: We just have to look in, we just have to turn in and it is discovered. It is a discovery, not an achievement.

Content: This is the whole foundation of meditation. Meditation means that all that is worth achieving need not be achieved because it is already inside you, and all that can be achieved is not worth achieving. Money can be achieved, prestige can be achieved, but they are not worth achieving because all will be left behind; death will come and snatch you away.

Content: So that which can be achieved is not worth achieving, and that which is worth achieving need not be achieved at all because it is already there. You are made of it. Love,

Content: 83

Content: bliss, God, these are our intrinsic ingredients. They are given. Nothing is to be done about them.

Content: You have it already, but you have forgotten about it. You have not used it for so many lives that unless you start using it, you will not become aware of it. The function of the Master is to help you rediscover what you seem to have lost.

Content: The only difference between an ordinary man and a Buddha or a Krishna is their level of awareness. Both are blissful; one knows, one does not. When you know, gratitude arises; a deep gratitude arises. When you don’t know, you go on complaining. You go on unnecessarily carrying a grudge, as if life is a burden.

Content: Only three hundred years ago scientists became aware that blood circulates in the body, that it is not just there like a liquid in a bottle, but that it is continually moving. Your body will die if the blood circulation stops or your breathing stops.

Content: Just as breathing, blood circulation, food and nourishment are necessary for the existence of the body, so bliss is necessary for the existence of the soul. But a little digging inside is needed so that we can uncover the undercurrent.

Content: Once you have known your blissfulness, the source of it, your whole vision changes, your whole perspective is new. Then you look at Existence with new eyes. Then whatsoever you have found inside yourself, you will find everywhere because whatsoever we are, we find in Existence.

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: Existence is simply a mirror: Existence only echoes our beings. Once you know that bliss is your nature, the whole nature of the universe becomes blissful. That is what is meant by realization, liberation.

Content: A Sufi mystic was dying. His disciples gathered and they said, ‘There is one thing we always wanted to ask but we could never gather enough courage to ask. If we don’t ask now, we will never be able to ask because you will be leaving the body. So now, whatsoever you think of us, you can think of us as fools, but we have to ask the question. How did you manage your whole life? We have never seen you serious, sad or unhappy. You have always been blissful. How did you manage? It is impossible to be so blissful, day in, day out.’

Content: The old man laughed and he said, ‘Early in my life I discovered that it is a question of choice. So this has become my daily routine: every morning, this morning too, the first thing in the morning, before I open my eyes, I think, “Now a new day is going to dawn; what do you want, old man? Do you want to be happy or unhappy?” And I always choose happiness.’

Content: If you know that it is a question of choice, you are bound to choose happiness always. People think that they are victims. This is wrong. We are not victims. It is not that situations go on dragging us into unhappiness and sometimes into happiness and that we are just at the mercy of blind forces. No, not at all; a thousand times no! Every moment we are choosing.

Content: 85

Content: Maybe our choice is unconscious, we may not be consciously choosing, but the choice is there. From this moment, start becoming aware of it and you will be surprised. Sometimes in the middle of your sadness suddenly the clouds disperse and it is sunny, because suddenly you see the point - that you have chosen to be sad and there is no need to be sad!

Content: The moment you decide to be blissful, misery starts escaping from you, but the decision has to be total. It is worth getting involved in being blissful. There can’t be anything more valuable.

Content: So drop all sadness, all seriousness. And don’t ask how to drop them. That is a strategy of the mind to go on keeping them; it is a way of postponement. ‘How?’ is just a way to postpone dropping misery. Simply drop misery. Don’t linger, don’t postpone. Say goodbye and don’t look back. And you will be surprised that it is so simple.

Content: It is so natural to be blissful. It is unnatural to be miserable. It is really a very difficult job to be miserable, but people are so skilful, so intelligent at being miserable. They have become great artists of misery. If there is nothing to be miserable about, they will invent something.

Content: A psychiatrist advised his patient to go to the mountains for three or four weeks for a rest. The third day he received a telegram from the patient: ‘I am feeling wonderful. Why?’

Content: People cannot accept bliss easily. Misery is okay.

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: Remember that it is only a question of your decision. In a single blow one can cut the Gordian knot and one can be free in a single quantum leap. Renunciation is not about practising bliss. It is simply about renouncing misery. Bliss takes courage.

Content: It is said that when Bodhidharma became enlightened he roared like a lion. The people of the nearby village became so afraid because they thought that a lion had come. They were thinking of escaping to some other place when somebody told them: 'Don't worry, it is only that old monk; something has happened to him. He is roaring!' Then they all slowly went into the forest, gathered around him and asked, 'What happened? Have you gone crazy or something?'

Content: He said, 'I was crazy before: I used to think that I was just a sheep but now I know I am a lion!'

Content: Buddha himself has said that when one becomes enlightened, one roars like a lion. One becomes a rebel, and to rebel against misery is the greatest rebellion.

Content: A meditator's eye is needed to see bliss. These two eyes that you have won't help much. A third eye is needed. These two eyes go outwards. They don't know how to look in. They are not meant for that.

Content: The meditator starts growing a third eye. Just between these two eyes, exactly in the middle, there is a subtle center which starts functioning as an eye: it starts looking in. To look outside, two sides are needed because the outside consists of duality. To look in only

Content: 87

Content: one eye is needed because the inside consists of the non-dual.

Content: From the very beginning, your meditation has to be on the third eye. With closed eyes look in and try to remember that exactly between both eyes, the spot I just touched, there is a hidden center. It is the sixth chakra, your ajna chakra.

Content: Once it starts functioning and moving, you become capable of seeing within. Sitting silently, look at the third eye center. As you pour your energy towards it, it will start moving. In the beginning you may feel a little strange because something new is happening, which has never happened in your body. But soon it settles, and once it settles great calmness descends.

Content: It is possible for you. Just a little effort and the wheel will start moving, just a little effort and the benefit will be great. The benefit is going to be so much that the little effort is nothing compared to it. So let that be your concentration point: with closed eyes look at the third eye. Looking at it you start feeling great light spreading inside you, and with the light comes delight!

Content: May you reach eternal bliss, Nithyananda!

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: Tell Me Who You Are

Content: 11.25 Having seen your fearsome mouths with blazing tusks like the fire of the end of the Universe,

Content: I know not the four directions nor do I find peace. O Lord of the Deva, O Refuge of the Universe, be gracious.

Content: 11.26 All the sons of Dritharashtra with many kings of the earth, Bhishma, Drona, the son of the charioteer, Karna, with our warrior chieftains.

Content: 11.27 Into Your mouths with terrible tusks, fearful to behold, they enter.

Content: Some are seen caught in the gaps between the tusks and their heads crushed.

Content: 89

Content: 11.28 Even as many torrents of rivers flow towards the ocean,

Content: so too these warriors in the world of men enter Your flaming mouths.

Content: 11.29 Just as moths hurriedly rush into the fire for their own destruction,

Content: So too these creatures rush hastily into Your mouths of destruction.

Content: 11.30 Swallowing all worlds on every side with Your flaming mouths, You lick in enjoyment.

Content: O Vishnu, Your fierce rays are burning, filling the whole world with radiance.

Content: 11.31 Tell me who You are, so fierce in form; salutations to You, O Supreme; have mercy.

Content: Indeed I know not Your purpose, but I desire to know You, the Original Being.

Content: In these verses Arjuna expresses his discomfort.

Content: Arjuna says earlier:

Content: 'I see O Lord! All the manifestations of Shlva, Aditya, Vasu and Vishwadeva, Ashvin, Marut, Gandharva, the forefathers, Yaksha, Asura and all the celestial beings and demi-gods, all rolled in You in wonder, all part of Your Cosmic Consciousness. Whatever You are is Divine Energy. O Mighty Armed One, all the planets with all the demi-gods are disturbed, shaken by Your Form with many faces, eyes, arms, legs, thighs and bellies and Your many terrible teeth. As they are disturbed, so am I.'

Content: Now he slowly comes down. From this verse we should say, 'Arjuna uvaacha!' It is no longer the divine state that Arjuna talks from. The moment he started feeling fear, he descended to his normal state. You should understand that it is only your fear that separates you from Cosmic Consciousness.

Content: Let me tell you one more incident in my life.

Content: Some time after enlightenment, I was sitting in a forest in Tamil Nadu. There was a big snake lying just next to me. I had my eyes open but was in the Universal Consciousness, in a meditative mood. Several hours must have passed before I came out of my meditative state and the first thought that came to my mind was the snake! As long as I was in the meditative state, I did not think of the snake. You will be surprised that as soon as the thought of the snake came to my mind, the snake began to realize that I was a man! It looked up, put down its head and moved away. The fear in me triggered the fear in the snake.

Content: The universe responds to you. Cosmic Energy responds to you.

Content: Likewise, when Arjuna says, 'So am I', that he is frightened, he becomes Arjuna, the man.

Content: There are two things that make you a human - the instinct to possess and the instinct to survive. The instinct to survive arises out of fear, from the Swadishthana chakra, and the instinct to possess comes out of greed, from the Muladhara chakra. This sums it up. Here the instinct to

Content: survive has appeared and he has become Arjuna, the man. We do not understand that when we drop the instinct to survive, we become Krishna; we exist forever. We become Bhagavan, the Universal Consciousness. But most often, we hold onto the instinct to survive. Now Arjuna slowly comes down and becomes Arjuna, the man.

Content: Arjuna exclaims: 'I see all the sons of Dritharashtra along with their allied kings, Bhishma, Drona, Karna and other chief soldiers rushing into Your fearful mouths. I see some trapped with their heads smashed between Your teeth, ground into nothing.'

Content: He describes the whole scene. He sees the heavy losses on both sides; his own side, his warriors and generals, but even heavier losses on the other side, including Bhishma who is invincible, Drona and Karna who are unconquerable. By inference he sees his own victory in the end.

Content: In the beginning Arjuna sees what he wished to see. He sees what he believes to be the Cosmic Form of the great Vishnu in His traditional attire and weapons, surrounded by gods and sages. The form changed suddenly into a terrifying one of Death, all-consuming and terror-inspiring, to which the entire Universe bowed down in fear.

Content: From this macro perspective, Arjuna comes down to see the same destruction being played out at the level of the battlefield at Kurukshetra. His enemies, the great warriors arrayed against him in battle, fly into the gaping mouth of destruction like moths into fire. Arjuna sees with convincing reality the destruction of all the great

Content: warriors who would have been expected to give him trouble.

Content: However, this scene does not fill him with peace and comfort. Arjuna is terrified at this vision of destruction.

Content: The destruction of those whom he perceives as his mortal enemies leaves him with no comfort.

Content: The truth is that Arjuna is not in control. He has no clue about what is happening to him and around him. He is in the presence of a primal force before which all that is obvious is his own insignificance. Victory and defeat seem to make no difference. The vision of destruction implies that he too is mortal. Arjuna is terrified.

Content: 'Who are You?', asks Arjuna plaintively. 'What are You here for? What are You doing? You are so fierce. You are not the Form I asked for. There seems to be some mistake!'

Content: 'I see men disappearing into You as rivers rush into the mighty oceans. Like moths rushing into fire I see creatures speed into destruction within You.

Content: 'You are not the compassionate Lord whose glories I heard from You. You are not who I thought You were. I needed You to comfort me. Instead, You terrify me.

Content: 'Have mercy upon me.'

Content: Death is the ultimate fear. Even the great warrior Arjuna trembles when faced with the scepter of death. It is not that Arjuna is not aware of the inevitability of death or the nature of death. For a long time now Krishna has been educating Arjuna on the perishability of

Content: the body-mind and the imperishability of the spirit. Arjuna has fully understood. Yet, Arjuna is petrified.

Content: What is Arjuna so afraid of?

Content: For one thing, Arjuna does not expect the Cosmic form of Krishna to be anything but loving and compassionate. He has already framed Krishna is his own template, the picture that he wants Him to be. Krishna can be the friend, the Master, the beloved, the child and the mother and all combined. In every one of these moods, in each bhava, Krishna is still lovable, still reachable.

Content: However, in the form that Krishna has presented now, the all-devouring monster as it were, Arjuna is unable to comprehend any aspect of Krishna that he has known. This is a terrifying apparition, one that is horrifyingly real.

Content: What he does not expect, what his mind cannot comprehend, what does not fall in line with his samskara of beliefs and values, evokes great fear.

Content: For the first time, Arjuna realizes that the Master cannot be predicted. He now knows that the Master cannot be put in a frame. The primal energy that the Master is has to be experienced in whatever manner it is presented, without expectations and fears.

Content: Nature and Existence are neither cruel nor kind. The very term 'compassion' has a different meaning in the Cosmic dictionary. It is not the sympathy offered by each of us to another with or without any real feeling. It is not kindness. It is not the desire to be doing 'good,'

Content: whatever that looks like to us. True compassion is the result of experiencing that we are one with all of existence. There is no 'other'.

Content: There is neither the feeling of wishing to do good, nor 'not good'. In the deepest spiritual sense, nothing is good or bad. Everything just is. That is why death is the great leveler. Death does not differentiate. That is why the Hindu God of Death, Yama, is also the God of Justice. He is impartial. No one expects Yama to be kind or to play favorites. Because he is impartial, he evokes fear. Because he cannot be influenced, he terrifies.

Content: That is why, when people start questioning the purpose of Nature when thousands and millions die in natural calamities, there can be no answer. Such is Nature. Nature is not kind, which is our dictionary meaning, our interpretation of compassion. Nature is inscrutable and unpredictable and impartial in the Cosmic sense of compassion.

Content: Why should a ten-year-old child die while the ninety-year-old grandfather lives on? Why not? What do we know about the cosmic cycle of life and death other than the limited attachments we form and the emotions we feel?

Content: Sometime ago I was asked to heal an autistic child in the USA. When I laid my hands on the child, the child spoke to me in crude Tamil telling me to take my hands off. The parents knew no Tamil. I asked the child why he did not wish to be cured. He said that the reason he was born autistic is because he did not wish to take any responsibility in this life.

Content: 95

Content: I asked whether this was fair to his loving parents, who suffered as a result. The being said, 'That is why I chose them, because they are so caring and would not discard me. Now leave me in peace.'

Content: Many choose chronic and incurable diseases in this life to reach a Master. Many of my disciples first came to me for healing, after all else had failed. For many births, their spirits have sought to meet a Master in their quest for realization, and finally the spirit decides that the way to succeed is to be attached to a near-fatal disease.

Content: What we see is often not as it appears. The life that we lead is another drama. Only when the projection lamp is switched off do we see the screen. Until then we laugh and cry with the actors on the screen, not aware that it is all a play. When the lamp of life is switched off, we reach another plane where we see the game that we played for what it was. Until then, we too laugh, cry, shout and fight.

Content: It is so easy to fall in love with a handsome Master. Krishna is the most beautiful of all the gods. He is so easy to fall in love with. To fall in love with a terrifying Kali or an impassive Shiva is far more difficult. When you do, you expect the form to be different too. You need to be a Ramakrishna to accept and love Mother Kali who dances on dead bodies. You need to be a Shankara to fall in tune with Shiva who is forever in silent contemplation.

Content: But anyone can love Krishna, and everyone does. No one expects Krishna to turn terrifying. So when Krishna

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: presents another form to Arjuna, the ground literally slips from under Arjuna’s feet. He has no support. He does not know where to turn for help.

Content: So Arjuna pleads, ‘Please have mercy upon me. Tell me who You are. Tell me why You are here. I would like to know. I bow down to You.’

Content: Question: Master, How can this happen? When we talk about an ishta devata, a favorite deity, it is someone we can relate to. How can we relate to a terrifying form?

Content: Yes, you are right. The reason you pray to a form instead of the formless is because you can identify with the form. You can identify with the form only when you are comfortable with it. You can fall in love with an ishta devata only when the favorite deity is lovable.

Content: Please understand, however, that this is a beginner’s state. It is only in the beginning that you need this comfort, this attraction from the form, to fall in tune. As your awareness grows the form has to be dropped. That is why time and again I remind my disciples to drop all forms, including my own, in their meditations.

Content: Arjuna is beyond the beginner’s stage. He is an evolved spirit, who seeks to see the Master in His true form. The Master therefore shows him His true form.

Content: Poets describe nature as beautiful, wondrous, miraculous, captivating and blissful. Yes, nature is all that. But, nature is also earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, cyclones and other such terrifying phenomena in which thousands of lives are lost. How many poets write about all that? Even if they did, how many people would want to read about all that?

Content: 97

Content: You would say, 'We have enough of all these tragedies, why should we focus more on them?' For most of you, there is a clear distinction between what is pleasant and what is discomforting. You wish to see what you find pleasant. You wish to change what is not pleasant into what is pleasant. Unfortunately, nature does not agree. Nature is what it is, take it or leave it.

Content: Krishna is Nature, He is Existence, and He is the Universe. He is not one-dimensional. He is multi-dimensional. Arjuna asked for the Truth. Krishna showed him the Truth.

Content: If you are uncomfortable with the Truth, you can stay at the level where it is make-believe, and be comfortable. I tell people who come to me:

Content: 'You have a choice. You can be gazers who are happy to look at My Form and be happy. To those people, I shall give eye candy and brain candy. You can then go away happy. You can keep My picture, do whatever you want to that picture, feel happy. There is nothing wrong with that. But, don't think you are looking at Truth.

Content: 'If you wish to know the Truth, come closer and be open. You should then be prepared to undergo surgery. I shall become the surgeon, and there will be no more candies. Depending on what is needed to dissolve your ego, I may burn you; I may make you do things that normally you would avoid as being unpleasant.

Content: 'This is your choice. There is no compulsion, no force. To Me it makes no difference what you choose. What makes you happy is what I respond to. However, once

Content: you choose to come close, do not run away when things get hot. It is like running away from the operating table. It is dangerous.'

Content: Arjuna received what he asked for. Arjuna was not asking for the beautiful form of his ishta devata. He wanted to know the Real Form of Krishna, the Parabrahma Krishna. Of course, he did not know what to expect. That Form is rarely revealed. When he perceived one part of that Form, it was so terrifying that Arjuna, the greatest of all warriors, could not bear to look at it. It was so totally different from all that he had expected to see.

Content: Existence is full of opposites. In the material world of existence one cannot see one attribute without experiencing its opposite. There is no good without evil. There is no love without hate. There is no courage without fear. There is no faith without doubt. It is only when you see both sides, both opposing attributes, and become comfortable with the truth of these opposing attributes, that you can go beyond both, transcend both and treat both the same way.

Content: In the spiritual world, I have often said, there is no right or wrong. There is just IS. What happens is what happens. There is no sinner and there is no saint. Put in another way, sinners and saints are the same. There can be no Krishna without a Kamsa or Shishupala. There can be no Rama without Ravana.

Content: A piece of mythology:

Content: Jaya and Vijaya were the gatekeepers of Vishnu in Vaikuntha. Once they barred a rishi from entering and disturbing Vishnu. The angry rishi cursed them

Content: to be born as humans. When they pleaded to Vishnu to remove the curse, He said He could only modify it. Vishnu offered them a choice: to be born as His enemies for a few births and then return to Vaikuntha, or to be born as His devotees for many births before they could return.

Content: Jaya and Vijaya chose the first option. It is said they were born as enemies of Vishnu’s incarnations upon earth, as Shishupala and Kamsa, as Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakasipu, as Ravana and Kumbhakarna etc. They wanted to be back with Vishnu as soon as possible, and they knew it made no difference whether they were perceived as enemies or as devotees. In fact, as the enemy, Vishnu remained in their hearts far more intensely than in the case of any devotee.

Content: This understanding can only happen when you see both the seemingly opposing attributes and become aware that they are in essence the same. You need to understand that it is your perception that makes them seem different and opposing. What is good for one person may be bad for another. What one person loves, another may hate. When you go beyond the subjective element of perception and witness the event or object without attachment, the differentiation disappears.

Content: Arjuna is on his way to this understanding. If you immerse yourself in this chapter's inner meaning, you too will understand that to be able to see the formless you first need to see the form and then go beyond that form.

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: In that process the form may not be the form that you are used to, or even the form that you wish to see.

Content: Q: In what way are your teachings different from other great Masters? You have said not to renounce what we already have. Many interpret the scriptures to mean that we must give up all our worldly possessions. I am confused.

Content: It is good to be confused. Only an enlightened person and an idiot are never confused! So this is your natural state!

Content: What I say and what the scriptures say are the same. What the scriptures say and what Krishna repeats again and again in the Bhagavad Gita, is to renounce the desire for the outcome of actions. Never once does He say, 'Renounce all actions; go and sit in the forests or the mountains and keep your eyes closed.'

Content: Again and again He tells you to do what is right, do your dharma, do whatever are your prescribed duties based on your prarabdha karma.

Content: I say the same thing to you but in words that may make more sense in today's greed-filled atmosphere. There is a huge difference between Krishna's age and today. People still respected scriptural injunctions then. They believed in spiritual progress for personal transformation, and not because of greed and fear.

Content: Now we are filled with cerebral pollution from the media and from all around us. Everyone is an expert on everything. We are not ready to give up anything, yet

Content: 101

Content: would like to have everything. Krishna’s sayings will have very few takers today, unless they get the basic understanding.

Content: I tell you that you need not renounce anything at all. That is true. Please do not even think of giving up anything that you have. Enjoy what you have. Enjoy your wealth, your car, your home, your sound system, your holidays, your work and everything that materially fills your life. Enjoy your relationships; your wife, children, family and friends. Enjoy all this. But give up your fantasies. Stop salivating for what your neighbor has, your friend owns, or something that someone you see around you enjoys. These are not your possessions. These are your fantasies.

Content: These fantasies prevent you from enjoying what you now have. So, I say to you, do not renounce anything that you now have; but give up, renounce all the fantasies about what you don’t have. What causes you suffering is your desire for what you do not have. They are your fantasies about what you think you want to have. Drop these and you will be fine, you will be happy.

Content: Scriptures, especially Hindu scriptures, are the outcome of the experience of enlightened Masters. They are never wrong. But it is not easy to understand them because you live in another time, another space. You need a dictionary. I am your dictionary!

Content: 11.32 Sri Bhagavan said: I am the mighty world-destroying Time, I am now destroying the worlds. Even without you, none of the warriors standing in the hostile armies shall live.

Content: 11.33 Get up and gain glory. Conquer the enemies and enjoy the prosperous kingdom. I have slain all these warriors; you are a mere instrument, Arjuna.

Content: 11.34 Drona, Bheeshma, Jayadratha, Karna and other brave warriors have already been slain by Me; destroy them.

Content: Do not be afraid; fight and you shall conquer your enemies in battle.

Content: Krishna explains in these verses what He really is.

Content: 'I am Time,' says Krishna. 'I devour and destroy the world.'

Content: This is one of the most potent truths uttered by Krishna in the Gita. He has earlier talked to Arjuna about atman, about rebirth, about the nature of karma, about doing work without getting attached to the result of work and about His glories.

Content: For the first time, He takes off His mask and says matter of factly, 'I am the Destroyer.' He pulls no punches in responding to Arjuna's query, 'Who are you, and what is your purpose?'

Content: 'I am kala, Time,' says the Lord, 'and I destroy.'

Content: Time never stands still. It moves on inexorably. Nothing can stop the flow of time. Nothing can bring back time. Nothing can move Time forward. Time destroys.

Content: The future constantly moves into the present, and then into the past. At the frequency of our life, we can only see the present, and remember what we can of the past. The sad part is that though we can only experience the present, we constantly try to escape the present. We are forever caught in the fantasies of a future we know nothing about and the regrets of a past we never really lived when it was our present.

Content: Our entire story is one of missed time. We destroy time. We allow time to destroy us. We miss and kill the present, which is the only facet of time that is available to us. Instead of being where the present is and shaping our future, we fantasize and let the present as well as the future be destroyed.

Content: The only certainty in our life is that when time moves on, it is forever lost. However much we may regret and repent, nothing will change what has happened. But we do have the power at the moment of the present to shape our future. Every human being has the freedom and free-will to choose his action at the present moment. He can let go by default and claim that whatever happened was predestined. Predestination is simply the choice that we did not exercise.

Content: Only when we are aware in the present moment can we craft our future. Not when it is still the future and not when it slips into the past. The first is impossible and the latter is too late. By being grounded in the present, by being aware of the present, one can become aware of the future and one can shape one’s future. We need to use all our intelligence, energy and creativity to live blissfully in this moment, not in thoughts about the future or regrets about the past.

Content: Krishna is stating a simple fact here. ‘With or without you,’ He says, ‘all these warriors will be dead. As Time, I shall devour them. It is not you who are the cause. You can be the superficial reason. By being the instrument of their destruction, be the gainer of fame, wealth and power.’

Content: 105

Content: It is easy to interpret these words of Krishna to mean that the future is predestined, since He says all these enemies of Arjuna will be destroyed. From this we can even interpret that His role is to protect the good and destroy the evil.

Content: As Mahakala, Time personified, Krishna destroys all, the good and the bad. Time does not differentiate. Time does not keep accounts of whether you did good deeds or bad. Time moves on and destroys the present into past, future into present and past.

Content: As Time, Krishna is neutral. He just is. He knows what will happen in the future and yet He does not influence it. As Time, He lets happen what happens. He is the Supreme Energy that just flows.

Content: When one is in tune with Krishna, when one surrenders to Him, to His Will, things happen as they should. There is no interference on our part. We do what we ought to, what we need to, without worrying about what ought to happen and how. We then are in the flow of time, we are in the flow of Krishna’s energy.

Content: When we resist and try to have things the way we wish them to be, rather than the way they would be, we get in the way. Like the rock that gets pounded by the river and eventually gets reduced to fine dust, we too get reduced to nothing by Time. By imitating the reed in the river that bends offering no resistance, we can flow with Time.

Content: Struggling to choose is not freedom. It is the bondage of the mind. There is no need to make a choice. Choice happens at the level of mind, not being. When we relax

Content: into our being, we are in bliss, choiceless awareness. We can let the choice happen by itself. Choicelessness can be the choice.

Content: When we are conscious of the present moment, when we are truly aware of what we do in that present moment, whatever we do becomes the choiceless option. We don't need to make any special effort. Whatever happens in the present moment's awareness is the right choice.

Content: When Krishna speaks of destroying and wiping out the world, He is talking about the destruction of the illusory physical and material world. He is the destroyer of fantasies, He is the destroyer of identities, He is the destroyer of egos and he is the destroyer of all that is unreal.

Content: As He has said earlier on, what gets destroyed is the shell, the perishable body-mind, not the imperishable atman. What the mahakala - Time- destroys, is the psychodrama that is being played out on the battlefield.

Content: It is important to understand what Krishna means in these words. As the Supreme Consciousness, He too is the energy of Shiva, the Rejuvenator. Shiva is not the Destroyer as He is made out to be. He recreates by destroying. There can be no creation if there is no destruction. There can be no life without death. Shiva's aspect of kalabhairava is the Time that Krishna refers to. He is the controller of past, present and future and all that happens in these time zones.

Content: When one surrenders to this Supreme Consciousness, one loses all fear of Time. One falls in tune with Time. One flows with Time. Whatever one does is the right thing at the right time. When one loses fear of Time, one also loses fear of death. All that dies is recreated.

Content: Arjuna expressed his dilemma earlier as one of having to destroy his elders, his teachers and his relatives. Unknown to him, one of his opponents was his half-brother Karna. Just before the war, Kunti, mother of both Karna and Arjuna, tries to avoid bloodshed by letting Karna know that she is his mother, who gave him up as a newborn child. Karna tells her that it is inevitable that one of them, Karna or Arjuna, will die in the other's hands and that she will still have five sons.

Content: Arjuna had elaborated on his fear of killing all those he loved and respected. He wondered whether he was causing the destruction of his entire lineage by doing this. In truth, Arjuna was fighting against the destruction of his own conditioning. His samskaras, past memories of parental, teacher- related and other conditionings were difficult to destroy. This Great War is really the fight between Arjuna and his samskaras.

Content: Krishna once again takes responsibility for this destruction. Earlier there were only words. Now Arjuna had seen the destruction for himself. He had seen the Kaurava warriors being consumed by the destructive destination that Krishna had become. It was impossible for Arjuna to disbelieve what he had seen - Bheeshma, Drona, Karna and others disappearing into the vast form of Krishna.

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: Now Krishna consoles Arjuna. ‘You have seen the Truth of what happens. They have been destroyed already. Do not lose heart. Do what you have you do. Fight and destroy what remains, which is just the illusion of your fears.’

Content: Q: If Time is absolute and Time decides everything, then where is the question of free will and choice? Even if we accept choicelessness, how can we drop the fear of not knowing what will happen?

Content: An excellent question. Let me start with the second part first.

Content: The fear of the unknown is what disturbs everyone the most. At its core, the fear of death is the fear of the unknown and vice-versa. We do not know what is going to happen when we die. Some say we are reborn. Some say we will go to hell. Others say we can go to heaven if we donate cows or do charity work or whatever.

Content: This fear of death, which is at the root of all our fears, is born from the fear of losing our identity. From childhood we have cultivated an identity that is unique to us. We feel that we are special. We are not the same as our neighbor, our friends. We like to think we are a little better. We are islands. This is how we create our identity.

Content: Death frightens us because we don’t know what will happen to the identity that we’ve built up around ourselves. We are no longer there to protect, nourish and

Content: 109

Content: expand upon our identity. We fear that Death will cut off all our moorings, and we will be suspended in an unsupported vacuum.

Content: If you talk to people who have had a ‘near-death experience’, you will find a common thread. They have all lost their fear of death. They have faced death and found it welcoming. In fact, they were all reluctant to come back.

Content: The way to shed any fear, especially of death, is to face that fear. How to face the fear of death? In all our courses, there is a session that takes you through an experience akin to dying. It helps you feel the separation of mind, body and spirit. Once experienced with awareness, this meditation allows you freedom from the fear of death.

Content: Once you have overcome the fear of death, all other fears related to the unknown drop automatically. If you are not afraid of dying, what else is there to be afraid of? In case you find it difficult to believe this, talk to people who have had a near-death experience. There are websites that describe these experiences. You will find that all these people have been transformed in a similar manner. They are free from all fears. They have faced their worst fear and come away unscathed.

Content: Death is related to Time. It is the ultimate ‘present.’ Future and past both merge into the present at death. But you do not have to die to experience the present moment, which is what Time is all about. The present moment is the destroyer of the past and the creator of

Content: the future. Time is not merely the destroyer. Time is also the creator and the sustainer. Time is Maheshwara, Maha Ishwara, the God of Gods. Time is the integration of past, present and future; creation, sustenance and destruction.

Content: It is Time, as the present moment, that decides everything. What happens in the future is decided by what happens now. What we cannot do to influence our present will certainly not help us in forming our future.

Content: When Krishna says that all the Kaurava are already dead, He is speaking the Truth that everyone born as a mortal will die at one time or another. It is also true of Arjuna and the other Pandava. Krishna’s focus now is to get Arjuna to stand up and fight. If Krishna had not persuaded Arjuna and made him aware, the possibility existed that Arjuna might have walked away. With Krishna’s inputs the result was different.

Content: There is always the element of free will and choice in what we do. What we need to remember is that our choice of action will not necessarily result in what we expect. This is the point where most of us have problems. We confuse choice with the end result. There is no guarantee that our choice will result in what we wish, though there is a connection.

Content: That is why time and again in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna exhorts Arjuna to drop expectations and attachments. He tells Arjuna to do what he has to do, but with no expectation and attachment to the fruits of what he does. This is the key to success, even in the material world, especially in the material world!

Content: All of us in the corporate world and in the material world of running households need to remember this well. Most of us are so focused on what we expect, so obsessed with the end result, be it our quarterly performance or the end-of-the-day result, that we lose sight of what we need to do 'now.' What is important is the 'now,' not the future. If we take care of the 'now,' the future takes care of itself.

Content: We are never in the present moment. We are always in the past, recalling what we should have done, how we should have acted so that what happened could have turned out differently. We are full of regrets and guilt. Drop these regrets and guilt and move on. Nothing we do now can in any way influence what happened already. Even if we think that by ruminating over the past we can decide better for the future, we are wrong. We do not have the intelligence to learn from our mistakes. We keep making the same mistakes over and over again.

Content: We can never achieve anything by speculating about the future. We can daydream as much as we want, whether we call it positive thinking or visualization, but nothing, nothing at all can happen unless we do something about it 'now.' Yes, thoughts influence, but they have to influence our current actions first, before they influence our future. They can only influence our future if they influence our present.

Content: When we truly stay in the present, we become aware of what we are doing and what is happening around us. Our mind is where our body is. Whatever we do in this

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: present moment will be right for us. Whatever path we take will lead us into the right destination. The present-moment awareness is one of intuition that determines what is best for us, without the need for rational analysis. We are in tune with the Universe and what happens is in our best interest.

Content: This is the seeming dilemma of free will and surrender. When we are in the present moment we exercise our free will by surrendering to the Highest Cosmic Energy. That is a decision we make. It is not an accidental happening. It is a choice to let things happen as they do in the present moment, without being concerned about the past and the future.

Content: Meditation is the key to being in the present moment. In fact when we are in the present moment we are in meditation. There is no difference at all. From the conscious state of mind we are elevated to a super-conscious state that makes us aware of what we need to do. There is absolute clarity.

Content: 113

Content: BhagavadGita

Content: You Are Everything and Everywhere

Content: 11.35 Sanjaya said:

Content: Having heard this speech of Kesava, the crowned Arjuna with joined palms, trembling, prostrating himself,

Content: Again addressed Krishna, voice choking, bowing down, overwhelmed with fear.

Content: 11.36 Arjuna said:

Content: O Hrishikesha, it is but right that the world delights and rejoices in Your praise.

Content: 114

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: Rakshasa fly in fear in all directions and all hosts of sages bow to You.

Content: 11.37 And why should they not bow to Thee, O Great Soul, greater than all else, the Creator of even Brahma the Creator. O Lord of Lords, O Infinite Being, O Abode of the Universe,

Content: You are the imperishable, that which is beyond both the seen and the unseen.

Content: 11.38 You are the primal God, the ancient Being, the Supreme Refuge of the Universe. You are the Knower and the One to be known.

Content: You are the Supreme Abode, O Being of Infinite Forms, by You alone is the Universe pervaded.

Content: 11.39 You are Vayu, Yama, Agni, Varuna, the Moon, Prajapati and the Great-Grandfather of all.

Content: Salutations unto You a thousand times and again salutations unto You!

Content: 11.40 Salutations to You, before and behind! Salutations to You on every side!

Content: O All! Infinite in power and Infinite in prowess, You are everything and everywhere.

Content: Arjuna now reaches the third stage of his perception of Krishna’s Cosmic Form.

Content: In the first stage, Arjuna’s expectations of the glorious universal form of Krishna were fulfilled. He saw Krishna the way He expected with His crown, discus and mace, with Brahma rising on a lotus flower from His navel.

Content: 115

Content: BhagavadGita

Content: Even as he was getting used to the enormity of the vision that he beheld, Arjuna found this form replaced by a terrible, all-devouring form of Krishna that filled Arjuna with fear. Arjuna cries out: 'Who are you? Why are you here?'

Content: Krishna explains who He is; that He is the all-devouring Time.

Content: Still overcome with fear, but recovering from the primal fear that had overcome him a few moments ago, Arjuna now surrenders himself to Krishna.

Content: Arjuna is so overwhelmed by the fearsome sight of Krishna as mahakala, devouring everything around Him, and is so relieved to still be alive and coherent, that all Arjuna can do is to sing Krishna's praises. He no longer has any doubt in his mind about the Universal Consciousness of Krishna, who till a while ago was his friend and charioteer. Whatever names and descriptions he is aware of to address this Supreme Being, he uses now.

Content: At this stage, Arjuna understands who Krishna is. He understands what Krishna's purpose is. Arjuna's devotion is at its peak. He salutes Krishna as the source of all beings, the creator of Brahma, who in turn created Prajapati from whom all beings originated. He salutes Krishna as the elements of nature. Since Krishna extends everywhere and there is no place where He is not present, Arjuna salutes Him in all directions. Arjuna now truly appreciates the unfathomable magnitude of Krishna.

Content: 116

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: Q: There are those who say we are all sinners; we are born sinners. We must redeem ourselves to reach God and there is only one God. What do you say to this?

Content: You are no sinner! You never were, you never are and you never will be!

Content: Everybody is potentially a Krishna, a Christ or a Buddha. Feel blessed that God has given you the seed of the Ultimate. All that is needed is to find the right soil and to be ready to die in the soil, to rupture and grow.

Content: If at all you need to redeem yourself it is through renunciation. It is not through regretting anything that you have done. It is to transform from what you were to what you are.

Content: You entered this world in the image of God. You were born pure, free and natural. Your external conditioning imposed changes upon you. You can go back to what you were born as, at any time.

Content: That is what Jesus meant by the word 'repent.' In ancient Aramaic, which Jesus spoke, the word 'repent' meant 'to go back to your roots,' to your original nature, your divine nature. That is not the redemption that priests of any religion will talk about. They will talk about money, about contributions to the collection box and going to confession.

Content: To go back, you need to renounce. As I said before, you need not renounce anything that you already have. Just renounce your expectations, your attachments and your fantasies. Renounce what you do not have, that is enough.

Content: 117

Content: Renunciation is the right soil, and to be with a Master means to be ready to die in Him. The moment the seed dies, a tree is born. The tree cannot be born without the death of the seed. It is only through death that the new arrives. One who knows this secret of life goes on dying every day, every moment, because then death is the process of renewal, of rebirth, of renewing oneself.

Content: Feel blessed that God is within you. One need not be a Christian or a Hindu or anything to be God. Why settle for being a Christian when you can be a Christ? Why settle for being a Buddhist when to be a Buddha is within your grasp?

Content: My suggestion to all my followers is this: never settle for any small thing. Only the Ultimate can make us contented and fulfilled. Be blissful because we are already saved, from the very beginning we are saved. All this talk about our being sinners is manipulative. It is to keep us in bondage. It is to keep us under the control of the priests and religious leaders. By nature, in nature, we are free, we are God, and so, we cannot be sinners.

Content: There is really no way to go astray because all ways lead to God; they can't lead anywhere else. Even those who go astray are simply taking a longer route, that's all. Where else can they go? There is nowhere else to go to, God is everywhere. So you can go south or north or east or west, or you need not go anywhere. Sit wherever you are: God is there too!

Content: Those who say they don't believe in God, they also belong to God. And as far as God is concerned they are already saved.

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: all saved. This whole universe is already in the Ultimate state: we have just forgotten. We have forgotten that we need not do anything. We have forgotten that we are already there, where we would like to be. We have forgotten that we are already That which we want to be, That which we dream about and desire, and we have never been otherwise.

Content: In Zen they have a saying: From the very beginning all are saved, all are Buddha. But deep sleep has fallen over us. The function of the Master is not to save us but just to remind us. We should be capable of listening to Him, that's all.

Content: There is a difference between hearing and listening. Anybody whose ears are functioning can hear, but unless our hearts are also there we can't listen. Listen with deep obedience, listen with deep trust, and listen without any thoughts. Because if we have thoughts they will interfere, they will distort. They will change the meanings of the words and they will impose their own ideas. They will only allow us to hear what our mind wants us to hear.

Content: Meditation is the art of listening to Existence. The wind is passing through the trees; listen to it and listen obediently, as if God has called you. God has really called you because the wind belongs to Him and the trees belong to Him and the sound of the wind passing through the trees also belongs to Him. Listen to the water, the running water, and the sound of it; listen to the clouds and listen to the silence of the night. And in the same way listen to the noise of the marketplace, the sound of the train passing by. They are all the same.

Content: 119

Content: Listen to everything with such deep silence that you become capable of not distorting the messages that are arriving every moment. God goes on pouring His messages from everywhere.

Content: The leaf falling from the tree is His message.

Content: Lao Tzu became enlightened seeing a dry leaf falling from the tree. He must have been a man of tremendous silence. Just seeing the pale, old, dead leaf falling from the tree he realized that all is momentary, that life is going to end in death, that there is nothing to cling to, nothing worth clinging to, that this life which ends in death is not the Truth. The leaf became the messenger of God.

Content: In that very moment the worthless was renounced. Not that he made a deliberate decision to renounce; that is not needed. The very understanding that life is momentary, that life is futile, that life is meaningless is enough; one starts searching for another kind of life, on another plane. One has been moving outwards, now one starts moving inwards. We have been searching for joy and bliss and have been finding frustration and misery because that's what the outside can give to us. The moment we turn in, the moment we start exploring our interior, a great joy arises.

Content: Meditation is the art of listening to Existence with deep obedience, with such totality that between us and the song of the bird, there is no barrier. Then the song of the bird becomes the message of the Buddha. Then in every silence there is a scripture. Then every moment of

Content: life is a contact with the Divine. Then on every leaf is God's signature, and in every stone a beautiful song is asleep, is hidden.

Content: When we become silent, what is hidden starts becoming manifest. We start hearing things which are not heard ordinarily and we start seeing things which are not seen ordinarily, as if new eyes have grown in us, new ears have grown in us.

Content: The definition of meditation is also the definition of the disciple: the art of listening to the Master.

Content: Let us crucify our head and crown our heart. If we surrender to Existence we are victorious;

Content: we then become 'the crowned one,' which is what the word 'Christ' means. Christ was crucified. His crucifixion was really His crowning ceremony. For those who understand, for those who have eyes to see, His crucifixion was a crowning ceremony because at the last moment on the cross, He surrendered totally.

Content: He said: 'Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.' That was His last prayer. That is surrender. To have one's own will is egolistic; to allow God's will to happen to us is surrender. To be with God and in God is to be victorious; there can be no other victory greater than this.

Content: A Master has to live through this paradox: the paradox of surrendering and realizing victory. We have all been barren and nothing has grown within us. We are all locked inside; so many blockages, so many stones and so

Content: many hindrances to growth. But we go on accumulating them, thinking them to be precious, thinking them to be diamonds. But they are not diamonds. They become a great weight on our soul; the heart is crushed underneath.

Content: In the past, societies all over the world have praised the quality of being hard like a rock. That has been thought to be very manly. That has been praised and honored because the society needed soldiers. It needed people willing to kill and be killed by other people. It needed hard people living in the head and not in the heart. It needed people who couldn’t feel, we couldn’t be sensitive. Only such people can be forced to be slaves because they will function like machines. Efficient they will be, but human they will not be. Machines do not distinguish between right and wrong.

Content: Where is the scale to measure what is right and what is wrong? There is no scale. That is why in Sanatana Dharma (the correct name for Hinduism, which means ‘eternal spiritual path’), we have two scriptures. Sanatana Dharma is the only courageous dharma (spiritual path) to have two kinds of scriptures. All other religions on the planet Earth have only one kind of scripture, one book, which they call the Ultimate Book of Books! That is all. There are many religions that say that their Holy Book can’t be updated. Even software can be updated! If the book can’t be updated, I don’t know what to say. There are many religions that say their book can never be updated.

Content: But Sanatana Dharma is the only courageous spiritual path, whose founders say that their book can be

Content: updated. They divided their scriptures into two parts: shruti (the veda or knowledge passed on by word of mouth or hearing) and smriti (set in memory and writing, the code or rule books). Shrutis are the expressions of the experience of enlightened Masters and are about how to reach enlightenment. Smritis refer to the social laws, day-to-day rules and regulations. Vedic tradition was the first courageous culture that declared that their rule-books, the smritis, can be changed. From time to time enlightened Masters can create new smritis because we know that no code of morality can be adequate forever.

Content: No law can be a law forever because morality and law are based on the situation! If the deer population becomes too high, you are allowed to hunt. In the same way, once upon a time in India, the bovine population was too high. That is why they started offering cows in sacrifices. Once the bovine population became too low, they started to worship the cows.

Content: These rules are created to maintain equilibrium in the society, to maintain harmony in the society. When we all live together, we need a few basic understandings to live happily. For example, you agree not to kill me so that I agree not to kill you. That is all. We can both live happily without fear. Like this, a few basic understandings are assumed or have come into being. Slowly, by and by, they become rules. They become morality.

Content: The problem is, as long as we understand the root or reason for morality, we neither behave immorally nor get disturbed by this morality. When we don't understand

Content: 123

Content: the reason for the rule, it becomes just spoon-feeding, a sort of forced rule. Then not only do we try to escape from that rule, but also whenever we break the rule, it creates a deep guilt in us. When it is a forced rule, we often try to go beyond it; for instance we often speed when we don't see a cop! Actually, there is some adventure in doing what we are not supposed to do.

Content: A small story:

Content: One guy became addicted to smoking. He came to me asking for help, 'Master, please help me to quit smoking. I don't know how I became addicted. Please help me.'

Content: I asked him, 'How did you start?'

Content: He replied, 'Master, I never wanted to smoke. In fact, I hated the smell! One day my friend and I were talking on a street corner. My friend was smoking. My father saw us from a distance and thought that I was also smoking. When I went home he started shouting at me. He started screaming at me. I tried my best to explain to him that I was not smoking. But he was not ready to listen to me. Then I thought, anyhow, he has already shouted at me and is not willing to believe me, why not smoke? I already had the punishment. That is why I started smoking.'

Content: Most of the time, if we are asked not to do something, we are tempted to do it. We feel a sort of joy, a satisfaction, in doing it. That is the basic tendency in every human being.

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: When we say no to our parents, when we rebel, we prove we are adults. We think that as long as we say yes, we are only children. We feel we are not mature. When we say 'no', we think we have become mature! It is a basic tendency.

Content: We can see this in teenagers, especially in the USA. The moment they say no they think they are grown up and mature. They feel they become mature by saying no to their parents. That is why there are so many rebellious groups, so many gangs. Because there is a deep taste of satisfaction in saying no! Saying no is almost like an addiction. When we say no, we try to prove we are somebody special; we are somebody different. As long as morality is given to us as spoon-feeding, not with an understanding, we create two things. Firstly, we try our best to escape from it; secondly, we create a deep guilt inside our being once we do escape.

Content: All human beings like to break rules. It is in our nature to rebel. Most of the time people rebel without awareness, just to break rules. It is because these rules have been created without any understanding or experiential inputs from their makers.

Content: If we look into our life, there are so many blocks that have entered the same way. There are so many speed breakers; there are so many obstacles that have entered our life without our understanding. In course of time many practices, which originally had some meaning, become rules, which no longer have any meaning!

Content: In India, in the olden days they would not stitch clothes after sunset, because the stitching was done by hand.

Content: 125

Content: Naturally, in the night, in the dim light of candles or a hurricane lamp, you would not be able to stitch. But even now, in India, we see that after sunset many people won't stitch clothes! Not even in the tailor shops! There are so many tailor shops where electric lights are available. They may stitch with machines, but they won't stitch by hand after sunset.

Content: When we don't have the understanding, practices become dead rules. When we have the understanding, any rule can become a technique to live life happily. When we have the understanding, we will see that all rules are created just to have a happy and blissful life for ourselves and other people around us. Today these very rules create hell for us because the meanings have been lost.

Content: I have seen some people who, before starting their meditation, create such a fuss in the house: 'Keep quiet, don't shout, switch off the telephone, do this, do that'. They will practically turn the whole house upside down just for the sake of ten minutes of meditation. Do you think that they will actually do ten minutes of meditation? The moment they start, they will doze off; after two to three minutes, they will start swatting mosquitoes; after another two minutes, they start scratching themselves. Then they think, 'I can do the rest tomorrow. It is enough for today.'

Content: For this non-meditation they make such a big drama that they practically upset the whole house, without understanding that the very meditation itself is done for the sake of peace and silence. Some people, when they try

Content: to silence others, themselves create a lot of noise. Their noise will be much worse than others'. Their words, 'Hush, keep quiet!' will be louder than the people who are talking. In schools we can see that the noise made the kids is less than that made by the teachers!

Content: Most of the time, when we don't understand the root of morality, we start living in a dull and dead way. According to me, any rule, if it is internalized, will create guilt in us. Understand! Any rule! When I say any, I mean ANY. Any rule, if it is internalized, will create a deep guilt in us, because, by our nature, we aspire for freedom.

Content: There is a profound saying, Svabhava swatantraka, which means that our nature itself is freedom. We are eternally free. We never want to be caged! We never want to be a slave of any rule!

Content: We can see that all of society is struggling and working only towards freedom. Our entire struggle is nothing but this struggle for freedom. Even our search for money is the search for freedom. If we have more money, we have bigger choices: bigger house, bigger car, more comforts. We have more choices, therefore, we have more freedom. Our choice or freedom is the real search. Our search for money is nothing but our search for freedom. So by our very nature we are searching for freedom. We never want to be caged by any rules or any morality.

Content: When some morality is given to us as a rule, either we try to go beyond it or if we can't, we take revenge on whoever imposed the rule on us. We always take

Content: revenge. Maybe, we wait for the right time. And at the right time, we take revenge on them.

Content: People again and again come and tell me, 'Master, my son is not listening to me.' Be very clear, your son may be your first enemy, but you may also be his, because you have given him so many rules, so many regulations. You had given him so many rules and you controlled him when he was young. Naturally, in one part of his mind he will have respect and in the other part he will always feel resentment towards you. That other part will be just waiting to take revenge on you. Because you gave him rules and regulations, it is a basic rule; he will rebel against you because you gave him rules and regulations.

Content: Some people try to give us the rules in a very subtle or cunning way. They exploit our greed and fear by showing us heaven and hell and by creating the desire for heaven and the fear of hell. They create so many concepts of hell and heaven in us. They say, 'If you practise these types of things you will be rewarded with heaven; if you practise those types of things you will be punished with hell.' This concept of heaven and hell is a subtle way of exploiting our being. When we are given some rules based on greed and fear, a deep guilt is created in us.

Content: One more thing! This is one of the ultimate laws, which is very difficult to understand but I repeat, one of the ultimate laws. No one can live one's life based on any law. When I say no one, I mean nobody. When I say any law, I mean any law. Life is far above laws. All the laws, rules and regulations are based on some understanding of

Content: life. But life is beyond all our understanding and beyond our logic.

Content: People ask me, 'Why was this life created at all?' I tell them, this 'why' can never be answered. Because this 'why' is based on our logic. But life is based on God's logic. Our logic and God's logic can never meet. His logic is so big, so vast and so infinite. We can never meet His logic.

Content: God has created life. Humans have created rules. Naturally, our laws can never match or fit in with God's logic or the life created by God. Life is natural. Laws are societal. Life is physical. Laws are mental. So all our ideas, all our dos and don'ts, all our morality, all our right or wrong is given to us by society. We are called saints or sinners only by society.

Content: As long as society titles us as a saint, we are saints. The moment society titles us as a sinner, we are sinners. If we kill someone in the society, we will be called murderers. We will be punished. If we kill someone on the war front, we will be called heroes. We will be rewarded with a big award! So, the moral structure is societal. When we start internalizing the laws of society in our mind, we create a deep wound in our being. We destroy our intelligence. According to me, all our morality, rules and regulations are only superficial. It is only skin deep. Look a little deeper!

Content: Our nature is always struggling to express, to go beyond all rules, all regulations and all morality. Our consciousness is always trying to break through our conscience. Our consciousness continuously fights with our conscience.

Content: conscience. Conscience is societal. Consciousness is natural. Conscience is a poor substitute for consciousness.

Content: People ask me, 'What are you doing, Master? You are breaking the basic laws. You are pulling down the whole social structure. You are pulling down all rules and regulations. Then how can we all live morally? How will people live with morality? What are you doing?'

Content: I tell them, be very clear! We need forced morality only for kids. To children we need to say, 'Keep quiet, I will give you candy.' Of course, nowadays kids say, 'I am happy. I don't need your candy. I am happy jumping around. Who cares for your candy?' To a kid you can say, 'I will give candy,' or 'I will punish you.' On kids we can impose morality based on fear or greed.

Content: Now, it is time to grow beyond that! We are not kids anymore! It is time to stand up and be moral based on understanding, and not based on fear and greed. As long as our morality is based on fear and greed, be very sure that it is just skin deep.

Content: We can never be moral based on fear and greed. If fear and greed is the base for morality, we will try all possible ways to escape from it. For instance we will drive ten miles over the speed limit, thinking that if we see the cop, we can slow down. As long as our morality is based on fear and greed, be sure we are children. We are not mature. If we are really grown up, our morality should be based on understanding and not based on fear and greed.

Content: According to me, a mature person is one who lives a happy, blissful and quiet life without fear and greed. When

Content: we drop our fear and greed, a new kind of morality arises in our being. This morality is not societal morality. This is not just skin-deep morality. It arises out of our whole being. Our whole being experiences a different kind of wellbeing.

Content: When religion or society brands us as a born sinner, there is something seriously wrong with its philosophy. It negates the very spirit of a human being, which is divine. Yes, the body-mind system can be polluted and corrupted; but the body-mind system is perishable and changeable. The spirit within is pure and incorruptible. When this is understood, the individual will work towards his upliftment and the realization of his own divine, sin-free Self. Without this understanding, all that will happen is a self-fulfilling prophecy which will further mire him in depression and negativity.

Content: We have enough negativity and depression in this world without religion and society adding to it. The purpose of religion should be to uplift and enlighten, not to frighten and control.

Content: So I say to you, we are no sinners; we never were and never will be.

Content: We are eternal bliss, nithyananda!

Content: BhagavadGita

Content: Krishna, Yadava, My Friend

Content: 11.41 Whatever I have rashly said from carelessness or love, addressing You as Krishna, Yadava, my Friend

Content: Regarding You merely as a friend, unaware of this greatness of Yours.

Content: 11.42 In whatever way I may have insulted You in fun, while at play, resting, sitting or at meals,

Content: When alone with You or in company, O Achuta, O Immeasurable One, I implore You to forgive me.

Content: 11.43 You are the Father of this world, moving and unmoving. You are to be adored by this world. You

Content: 132

Content: are the greatest Guru; there is none who exists equal to You.

Content: O Being of unequalled power, how then can there be another, superior to You in the three worlds?

Content: 11.44 Therefore, bowing down, I prostrate my body before You and crave Your forgiveness, adorable Lord.

Content: Even as a father forgives his son, a friend his friend, a lover his beloved, You should, O Deva, forgive me.

Content: Arjuna is afraid again. Having seen what he has seen and understanding the unlimitedness of Krishna’s form, he remembers that all this while he had treated Krishna like a friend, so casually. Remorse fills his being.

Content: Arjuna’s worry is not fear of any reprisal, now that he knows who Krishna is. It is guilt that bothers him.

Content: ’I called You by Your caste name, Yadava,’ Arjuna cries out, ’I called You, ’Hey, friend, Hey, Krishna’. I knew not Whom I was addressing, Whom I was dealing with. Please forgive me.’

Content: ’How could I have done this? Please forgive me for the love I had for You that made me careless in addressing You. Bear with me; forgive me as a father would a son, a lover his beloved and a friend, his mate.

Content: A small story:

Content: With great sincerity and seriousness a devotee of Shiva offered prayers to Shiva’s idol at his home altar every day for many years. He had no thought

Content: 133

Content: other than Shiva, and all he desired was to have Shiva’s vision, His darshan one day.

Content: Since nothing happened year after year and he was getting old, the devotee gave Shiva an ultimatum. 'Either you appear before me or I will seek an alternative. Before I die I need to have the Lord’s darshan so that I may be liberated.'

Content: Shiva still made no appearance.

Content: After a few days the devotee bought and installed an idol of Vishnu at his altar, replacing Shiva. But he did not have the heart to throw Shiva away, and merely moved Him to one corner, telling Him, ‘See, I waited all this while patiently; all this is Your fault.’

Content: The next morning, he lit incense as usual and placed it before the altar, this time in front of the idol of Vishnu. To his irritation he found that the incense smoke was drifting towards the corner where he had cast out Shiva. 'You need no incense!' he cried out, and pinched the nose of the idol to prevent it from smelling the incense.

Content: The next moment he felt Shiva standing in front of him, smiling. The devotee was overcome with deep guilt and overwhelming emotion. 'Lord!' he cried, 'All these years I prayed to You without fail and You never appeared to me. Today, when I cast You out and pinched Your nose You gave me darshan. Why?'

Content: Shiva said: 'It is only today that I became real to you. That is why I came to you now.'

Content: As his friend, Krishna was the reality to Arjuna. He took liberties with his friend because He was so real to him. But his updated intelligence of Krishna’s Cosmic Form shook him up so badly that he was now consumed by guilt. It was because of the intense devotion that Arjuna had for Krishna, that Krishna gave him the invaluable gift of His divine form. Had Krishna not considered him worthy, Arjuna would not have seen his Cosmic Form.

Content: All our life, guilt rules us from our past. Whatever we do at a point in time, we do with the intelligence available to us at that point in time. At a later point in time, we look back and remember with the additional knowledge that we have gained since then. Often, what we did before seems wrong to us and we feel guilty.

Content: There is no greater sin than carrying such guilt. What we did was not sinful; to carry the guilt with us is sinful. When we drop the guilt and move on with awareness, a deep imprint is made within us which is far more powerful than carrying the guilt. The guilt dropped brings a far greater awareness of what not to do again.

Content: Arjuna is demonstrating to the rest of us the power of guilt; in this case guilt that seems to arise from the deepest of love. In one sense he does not wish to carry that guilt with him. He drops it in front of his friend, Lord and Master saying, ‘Forgive me.’

Content: Fear concerns the future. We can never be afraid of the past; it is dead and gone. Guilt and remorse plague us

Content: from the past. Every single thing that we did could have been done differently. We need not have done it or we could have done it differently. One by one these negativities pour out of Arjuna and he is getting cleansed in the presence of the Master.

Content: Question: You said that one of the five bhavás, moods, in which one approaches a Master or ishtá devatá is sakha bhava or friendship. Why then is Arjuna afraid of having expressed that friendship?

Content: Arjuna is in fact one of the greatest examples of sakha bhava, friendship relationship between Master and disciple. It is the immediate effect of realizing the true nature of Krishná, especially in virátá roopá, that terrifies him, that makes Arjuna afraid.

Content: Sakha bhava is not a relationship of equals. A disciple cannot be equal to a Master. Even when a disciple becomes enlightened and in that sense at the same level as the Master, the mood of the disciple would be one of sheer gratitude. It is after enlightenment that a disciple realizes the true nature of the Master and the real Master-disciple relationship flowers. The disciple imbibes the nature of his Master, he communes with the Master and this is how the lineage of great Masters is sustained.

Content: Friendship is not a permanent relationship. It is not a biological relationship as between a mother and child. It is not a contractual relationship as between husband and wife. It need not be the being-level relationship as between lovers. It can be a societal relationship born out between lovers.

Content: of convenience and comfort. As with all societal relationships it can change.

Content: Friends become enemies. We cannot truly have an enemy who has not formerly been a friend. There is a greater chance of two very good friends becoming hateful enemies rather than two unrelated people. Unfulfilled expectations between friends create far bigger problems and far deeper enmity than between those who have not developed bonds of friendship. If a stranger cheats us, we may accept it or take action as is appropriate. There is no great emotion involved except perhaps anger at being taken for a ride.

Content: When someone we consider a friend does something we consider disloyal, all hell breaks loose. We may even want to destroy that person. In addition to anger there are a host of other emotions that crowd us: pain, grief, depression, regret, guilt and so on. We can go through a state of mourning, passing from anger to depression to final acceptance or we can move to a mode of deep vengeance. Disloyalty from a friend can corrode us as no enmity can.

Content: It is also possible that those we consider enemies may turn out to be friends. This may not happen as often as friends turn into enemies, but with proper conditioning of the mind this can happen. As I mentioned earlier, when I enquire of potential healers ready to be initiated to think of enemies wanting to be healed by them, most answer that they cannot think of anyone as an enemy. The Nithyananda Spurana Program or LBP 2 that they attend before the Healers’ Initiation does a good job of

Content: destroying their samskaras, their negative conditioning, by removing all negativities including enmity. Check with any Nithya Healer and they will confirm this.

Content: In true sakha bhava, everyone is a friend, not just the Master. One turns non-judgmental and respects everyone around as an expression of divinity. In one sense this is the problem that Arjuna has in waging war with his clansmen, who are his enemies. As an extension of his sakha bhava relationship with Krishna, he finds it difficult to hate them enough to fight and kill them. He gives many reasons but these reasons are excuses.

Content: Arjuna is no coward. He is the greatest warrior. Killing is second nature to him. But destroying a friend is not. His innate devotion to Krishna extends to the Kauravas and he finds it difficult to keep this friendship feeling aside on the battlefield.

Content: In these verses, Arjuna also expresses the fear that his mode of friendship may have been tinged with dislike or enmity or anger at some point in time. Though he seeks forgiveness for having called Krishna his friend or a Yadava, etc., these are not really good reasons for a good friend to apologize, even if the friend turns out to be God.

Content: However, if Arjuna has some hidden fear that at some point the friendship may have turned into feelings of enmity, even if unconsciously, he has reason to worry and seek forgiveness.

Content: There are many real life incidents when people have helped others without knowing who they are. It is said

Content: that once the owner of a major hotel group, who liked to travel incognito, visited one of his smaller hotels. The bell boy, not knowing who he was, but concerned about this old person walking in on a wintry night without adequate warm clothing, went out of his way to help him and make him feel comfortable. The ending is obvious. The bellboy was promoted and eventually became the Head of the hotel group.

Content: But imagine the state of the bellboy once he learns that the old man he met was the big boss, but he has not been rewarded yet for his Good Samaritan act. He would have been filled with worries about what mistakes he might have committed. The help he provided would have been at the back of his mind. The danger of his losing his job in case he had goofed up would have been paramount.

Content: Such was Arjuna’s state. He doesn’t know yet where he stands. Krishna has revealed Himself as the Supreme God to him. Arjuna knows at the back of his mind that he had not always had noble thoughts about Krishna. This is how we all treat God as well. As long as God provides us with what we want, we worship him. The moment our requests don’t get fulfilled, the Divine becomes a stone idol. It is the same with a Master. If you get healed, if you prosper, the Master is good. If not, what good is the Master? Prayers turn to insults and curses.

Content: Arjuna is in transition. He represents the person who is about to move from the intellectual seeker level to the devotee and disciple stage. In fact, he has already moved

Content: after the vision. There is no longer any doubt in him about Krishna’s identity. Until Krishna showed him His divine form, it was theory to Arjuna. Now after the vision, it is completely real. He has moved from sakha bhava, friendship, to maha bhava, an enlightened relationship. It is this transition that brings out the residual guilt in him.

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: Your Familiar Form

Content: 11.45 After seeing this Form which I have never seen before I am filled with gladness but at the same time I am disturbed by fear.

Content: Please bestow Your grace upon me and show me Your form as the Supreme Personality, O Lord of Lords, O Refuge of the Universe.

Content: 11.46 O thousand armed Universal Form! I wish to see Your Form with crown, four- armed with mace, disc in Your hand.

Content: I yearn to see You in that Form.

Content: Arjuna now makes his final plea in these verses.

Content: 141

Content: 'Show me Your Form that I am familiar with,' he says, 'the One that I am comfortable with. I am grateful and overwhelmed by the visions that You have shown me, but what I am comfortable with is Your four-handed Form holding the discus and mace, as the Protector of the Universe. I am not comfortable, I am indeed fearful of the terrifying Form of You as the Destroyer, however real it may be.'

Content: All of us are in the same situation as Arjuna. We all have fixed ideas of what divinity is, what motherhood is, what love is and what friendship is. Divinity is benign, comforting, protecting, nurturing, forgiving and all that is sweet and nice. So are motherhood, love and friendship.

Content: Existence does not work that way. Existence does not differentiate between good and bad, between beautiful and ugly. It is we who make judgments and create emotions within us to promote those judgments.

Content: In the Vishnu Sahasranama, which is recited by Bhishma as he lies awaiting his liberation, he describes Vishnu as 'shantakaram bhujaga shayanam padmanabham suresham'. 'Peaceful, emanating bliss...' is how Vishnu, whose incarnation Krishna is, is described. Just the very words bring to us so much peace and calmness, yes?

Content: If instead, Bhishma had used words to describe the fearsome attributes of Vishnu such as:

Content: 'frightful destroyer, with burning mouths...' and so on, how many would recite the Sahasranama? It is a different matter that most people who go through the motions of reading and reciting the thousand names of

Content: Vishnu do not understand a word of what they are saying! So they are safe, whatever Bhishma may have said.

Content: But if you do understand what the words mean, and if you are not in equilibrium, you will be disturbed. These words, understood to be negative by your logical mind, will create severe emotional turbulence within you.

Content: A yogi is one who has passed beyond these turbulences. He understands that the Divine is without attributes, neither peaceful and comforting, nor fearful and terrifying. These manifestations are also illusions. Beyond and behind these apparent manifestations, Divinity just is. It is beyond the three gunas, it is beyond mind-body and spirit.

Content: Arjuna at this point in time is yet to reach this stage. He still seeks the safety and comfort of the four-handed Divine Protector that he is used to, rather than the terrifying mahakala.

Content: When we realize that both are masks of the Divine, that neither is His true Self and that both are His true Self, then and only then are we rid of illusions, and are liberated.

Content: Q: Master, I am a mother of young children. Can you advise me on how to bring them up the right way?

Content: Our whole effort is always to project our desires on our children. Our own dreams are unfulfilled, because dreams are never going to be fulfilled, so we project

Content: them on our children, we hope that what has not happened to us will happen to them. The same has been the case with your parents and the same will be the case with your children when they become parents.

Content: Helping the child to go beyond dreaming, beyond fantasies, should be the basic function of the mother, the father, both the parents. Normally we do just the contrary: we help the child to become more ambitious, more egoistic. We condition them to live in greed and fear and train them to fantasize.

Content: For centuries, from one generation to the next generation, parents have continued giving hopes, ambitions and desires that basically can’t be fulfilled. To be really helpful to the child we have to understand this. Have no more projections; don’t load the child with your dreams. Help him to see the futility of all dreams. Then each child can become a Buddha - each child is meant to become a Buddha. It is because of wrong conditioning, wrong society and wrong education that we hinder their growth into Buddhahood.

Content: In Japan they have a certain art. It should not be called art, it is cruel, but they call it the art of bonsai. They grow trees in small pots. Big trees, which if grown in the soil would reach to the clouds, are grown in small pots that have no bottoms, and they go on cutting their roots. These miniature trees in Japan, four-hundred-year-old trees, are just six inches high.

Content: If you cut the roots, how can they grow? They think that this is an art and many people all over the world appreciate it. People go to see those trees and they think

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: something great has been done! They are centuries old and the gardeners have been keeping them generation after generation. The older the tree, if it is not allowed to grow, the more artful it is understood to be. It is ugly to see those trees.

Content: They used to do something similar to human beings in Imperial China. They broke the feet of noble ladies and bound them so that they could not grow. The feet remained the size of a child’s feet, and could not support the weight of an adult. These ladies were literally disabled; all this in the name of beauty and fashion.

Content: They do the same thing today in the fashion world. They starve themselves and they vomit what they eat, so that they can be painfully thin. Young women think they are ugly if they are more than skin and skeleton.

Content: This is the way society has conditioned people, especially children. But that is the situation of every child in the world; those bonsai trees are very representative. What do we do to children? We cut their roots, unknowingly, of course. We want to help but we are so unconscious that our help is a hindrance, not help at all.

Content: So this is going to be your work. This will help you to wake up and this will help the child to grow in the right direction.

Content: The time has now come to go beyond mind. Mind is our bondage. Mind means the past, and to go beyond the mind means to live in the present. Slip out of the past; don’t allow it to interfere anymore, because to love through the past is to live a dead life. The past is dead.

Content: 145

Content: Living through the past is living in a grave. That's why there is so much misery in the world and so much deadness, insensitivity, unconsciousness: people are not really alive. They are not flowering; there seems to be no growth happening.

Content: They are simply born, and vegetate and one day they die. Their whole life consists of very meaningless activities, trivia. They don't attain any significance. They can't say in the end that life has been a great benediction. They go frustrated, disappointed, disillusioned, but nobody is responsible for it except themselves. If we live through the mind this is going to happen.

Content: Start living the life of meditation, and meditation means the life of no-mind. Don't allow thoughts to interfere. Be in direct contact with Existence: with trees, with rocks, rivers, people. Become a child again; then the circle is complete.

Content: One is born as a child; one should die as a child. Jesus says: 'Unless you are like small children you will not enter into My kingdom of God.' He is absolutely right. The really ripe and mature person is one who, in his old age, again becomes as innocent as a child. The circle is complete: life has come to its ultimate peak and we are ready to go back home.

Content: If the circle is incomplete we will have to be born again, because the circle has to be completed; that is the task that has been given to us. Unless we fulfil it, God cannot call us back. This is our work in life: to become a child again, innocent, full of wonder and awe. The mind is good as a mechanism; use it but don't be used by it.

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: Don't become its servant and don't be possessed by it. Remain the master.

Content: Become a child to guide your child. Recover your lost innocence. Drop your own conditioning so that you can bring up your children as unconditioned beings.

Content: Scientists tell us that until the age of adolescence children still operate with the brains in the alpha pattern. All adult brains work at beta brain wave frequency (about 13 to 20 Hertz). Alpha is between 8 and 12 Hertz. When they are younger the frequency of brain waves is even less, in delta and theta, which are the state of dreaming and deep sleep. In these low-frequency states the individual is highly influencible. Anything any person says, especially an older person with authority, is never questioned.

Content: This is the scientific basis for conditioning of children; this is how conditioning by parents, teachers and elders occurs. This is how our samskara are built up. Over generations this samskara burden is no longer that of an individual parent, the father or mother. It becomes a tribal or cultural or religious samskara. They become injunctions and commandments. They become the tools for controlling people.

Content: That is what happens when we bring up our children. We control them on behalf of our society and religion, because this is how we have been brought up. We do not know any better. However unhappy we are with the circumstances of our own life, knowing fully well that the way we have been brought up has caused us miseries, we still inflict the same rules upon our children. It is simply

Content: 147

Content: because we know no better. We are like deer caught in the headlights of a car. We seem frozen in our responses.

Content: If you seriously wish to bring up your children instead of bringing them down as most parents do, drop your own conditioning. Drop all your parental, societal and religious conditioning. All you have to lose is your fear and greed. You will then stop perpetuating the chain of destruction. You will stop spreading the destruction of spirit and allow enlightenment to blossom.

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: Only You Have Seen This Form

Content: 11.47 Bhagavan said : Dear Arjuna, I have favoured you with this Transcendental Form within the material world of My internal power.

Content: No one before you has seen this unlimited, brilliant Form.

Content: 11.48 O best among Kuru warriors, no one has ever before seen this Universal Form of Mine, for neither by studying the Vedas nor by performing sacrifices or charities, can this Form be seen.

Content: 149

Content: BhagavadGita

Content: Only you have seen this Form.

Content: 11.49 Do not be disturbed any longer by seeing this terrible Form of Mine.

Content: Dear devotee, be free from all disturbances. With a peaceful mind, you can now see the Form you wish to see.

Content: Krishna consoles Arjuna in these verses. He is again His compassionate Self to His disturbed disciple.

Content: He tells Arjuna that no one, but no one, has had this great privilege of seeing His Cosmic Form that He had just displayed to Arjuna. No penances, no rituals, no amount of scriptural reading and no other charities would gain this vision for any one. However, you are terrified. That is ok. See Me now in My normal form that you are used to worshiping.

Content: Krishna is clear on this point. It is He who decides how He reveals Himself to His devotees and disciples. It is a gift from the Master, from the Divine. It is not earned through effort. Of course, effort prepares one for the receipt of this great gift, but it is not the only necessary condition for the gift to be showered.

Content: Let me share another experience with you.

Content: During my parivrajaka, when I wandered the length and breath of India, many thousand kilometers, I stayed for several months in Haridwar. This was sometime in 1998 or 1999. I stayed under a bridge, sleeping on a concrete bench. There was a small Shiva idol under this bridge,

Content: 150

Content: which was on the banks of the Ganga. Not many people came to this location.

Content: I took ill and had high fever as well as severe dysentery. I could not even move. A young man suddenly appeared on the scene and started talking to me. He was very handsome and had tremendous grace. What I remembered in particular was a diamond-studded pen that he had in his shirt pocket. I found it incongruous since this man was otherwise very simply dressed.

Content: This man brought me medicines and food for three days while I lay too ill to move. He would sit down and talk to me. I asked him his name and where he lived. He said he was called Shankar Maharaj and that he lived in a nearby ashram, which I vaguely knew.

Content: Once it looked that I was getting better, this man stopped coming. After a few days when I was well enough to move freely, I decided to go to his ashram and thank him. I found the ashram without much trouble. It had three or four rooms on the banks of the Ganga and there was an old sanyasi sitting there. I asked him for Shankar Maharaj and he said that there was no one of that name living there.

Content: The old man was not too keen to talk. I persisted. He then said only three other old sanyasi stayed there and no young man who lived there. When I still persisted he blurted out with irritation: ‘The only Shankar Maharaj here sits there.’ I went over to where he pointed. There was a small Shiva temple, where inside was a white marble statue of Shiva sitting. As I went nearer I was amazed to see the same pen that the young man wore, tucked into a cloth that they had put on Shiva’s shoulder.

Content: BhagavadGita

Content: I could not believe what I saw. I went back to the old man and asked him why there was a pen on Shiva's statue. He simply said that some devotee had brought that pen and he had placed it on Shiva.

Content: The Shankar Maharaj who came to feed me and give me medicines when I was too ill to even move was wearing the same pen that this statue wore. You can draw your own conclusions. This is the honest truth.

Content: Years later, when I went with a group of devotees to Himalayas in 2005, I told them about this incident. I wanted to locate this temple but we were hard-pressed for time. Again when we went with another group in 2006, I decided we should look for it. After an early morning bath in the Ganga, we walked and after some searching found the bridge and the small Shiva idol in the place where I lay ill.

Content: From there I had some general idea of where this ashram was, as I remembered it seven or eight years earlier. I knew it was near Gita Mandir. We walked another few miles and enquired at the Gita Mandir about this ashram. All I knew was that this ashram had a small Shiva temple and it was on the banks of the Ganga. The person at the Gita Mandir told us to go out through their rear gate and look nearby.

Content: Whenever we asked about a Shiva temple, every passerby would point to the next house, because there was a temple in almost every house. Finally we came to a place, a large ashram that I thought looked familiar. Two of the disciples went inside and started looking. They

Content: 152

Content: talked to a number of people. They found one temple, which was not what I remembered. They started looking again. The rest of us, a party of about ten people, followed. Suddenly they came back running and said that there was a Shiva statue inside a small enclosure on the banks of the Ganga.

Content: When we reached this place it was exactly as I remembered. The old ashram with its four rooms was still there. The temple with the white marble Shiva idol was still there. When some of our group offered some money, the priest tucked the money under a cloth that he had wrapped on Shiva’s shoulder. This was where I had seen the diamond-studded pen!

Content: We asked the poojari (priest) if he remembered the incident when I had come looking for Shankar Maharaj. He was quite old, and even if he was the same old man who had met me, he did not remember anything. But the Shiva was still called Shankar Maharaj!

Content: There is nothing to believe or not believe in this incident when Shiva took care of me. It happened, that is all. It did not happen as a result of any prayer or any penance. I have no idea why it happened. That is how things happen in Existence. You have to take it as it comes.

Content: Of course, in this chapter Arjuna seeks Krishna’s vision and it happens. It could have also happened without his seeking. The favor is for the Divine to give, not because we ask.

Content: 153

Content: It does not matter to Krishna that Arjuna seemingly spurns this gift and would like to see Him as He normally does. What Krishna offered was an unconditional gift that required neither acceptance nor appreciation.

Content: A mother's love for a child does not happen as a result of any effort on the child's part. The presence of the child spontaneously evokes the deep unconditional love of the mother for the child.

Content: It is ultimately the surrender of the devotee to the Master, like the surrender of the infant to the mother, that evokes this unconditional love. In the case of an infant, it is a reflex action. The nature of an infant is to be defenseless and in absolute surrender to the caregiver. In the case of a devotee, the studied patterns of mental behavior need to be given up. This is far more difficult.

Content: The devotee has to return to his original and natural state of surrender to experience unconditional love. To achieve this he has to drop his mind. He has to give up all the studied behavior patterns, both conscious and unconscious. When the mind is wiped clean of its templates of comparison, it makes no difference if the Divine appears to be loving or terrifying. In both aspects one accepts Divinity.

Content: Krishna leads His disciple in stages through this path of Self-Realization, which is no different from the realization of the Divine.

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: Q: Vishnu and Lakshmi are almost always worshipped in gentle and beautiful forms. Shva and Kali, however, are in austere and fearful forms. Does this mean that Shiva and Kali are in a higher form?

Content: First of all, you need to understand that in whatever form you worship a deity, in stone, metal, wood or whatever else, you are not worshipping that idol or picture. You are, in fact, worshipping the energy behind and beyond that idol or picture through that idol or picture. This is one of the most misunderstood aspects of our culture, leading people to say that we worship idols and that we are pagans.

Content: No one can, however much they may like to believe so, understand the formless and worship the formless until and unless they have progressed from the identification with the form. You will find that even those who profess to be praying to the formless turn to a particular direction or visualize something in form. Why? Simply because it is practically impossible to go straight to the formless stage without a foundation involving some form.

Content: After all what is your perception of God and Divinity based on? These are idle concepts.

Content: A disciple of Ramakrishna complained to Vivekananda, a fellow disciple, and asked him why he called Ramakrishna 'God' in public. Vivekananda asked this man to explain what he understood by 'God'. This man replied that God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent.

Content: 155

Content: Vivekananda retorted: 'You fool! The omnipresent God is forever present in Ramakrishna. To you, God is just a concept. To Ramakrishna, God is a living reality. He lives with God all the time.'

Content: It may sound fashionable and cool to denigrate idol worship without knowing what it is all about. The entire art of building temples is not a mere art, it is a science; temple architecture is a highly developed science. Every single facet of it, from the size of the idols and the size of the rooms and courtyards, the directions in which each has to be situated, to the process of installing the idol in the garba griha (the sanctum), all these are laid down in detail in manuals that were developed thousands of years ago.

Content: In the temple of Brihadishwara in Tanjore, one of the largest temples in India, at any time the shadow of the main tower falls within itself. In many temples the sun shines through openings and falls on the main idol at specific days of the year at specific times. Many temples are built with thousand-pillared halls, in which the stone pillars, when struck, sound the exact notes of music. Modern day architecture does not have the methodology to recreate these feats.

Content: Temples are energy bodies, as are idols. They receive, store and radiate energy. They are mass meditation centers to help all those who cannot or will not practice meditation by themselves. They initiate you into an awareness of Cosmic Consciousness through the form. To move beyond, you need to drop the form.

Content: In our Nithya system of meditation, all meditations are formless. There are no mantras, no visualization of forms. But this requires some understanding, some awareness before practice.

Content: When one chooses a form, invariably one chooses a form for a quality that one lacks and is in need of. It may also be based on one’s samskara, vasana and unfulfilled desires. A person who chooses Vishnu and Lakshmi, chooses so seeking wealth, as they both represent material pleasure and wealth. One seeks Kali when one needs courage. One chooses Shiva when one seeks the path of gnana or wisdom. The choice is a reflection of one’s needs and not one’s state.

Content: Traditionally in Bengal, Kali has been worshipped as the Mother Goddess. They relate to her compassion and relate to her without any fear. Even in Vishnu worship, there are temples dedicated to Vishnu as Narasimha, his incarnation as half-lion, half-man.

Content: In general, it is true that it is easier to relate to a form that exudes happiness and love. That is why Krishna and Ganesha are the most popular amongst the deities. But whichever form you worship, be aware that the energy behind all forms is the same and ultimately it is the formless energy that you are worshipping.

Content: The energy of all deities and idols is one. There is absolutely no difference. In fact, the energy of all Masters is the same. There is no difference between the energy of a Krishna, a Buddha, a Mahavira and a Christ. It is we who perceive these differently, feel them differently and express them differently.

Content: The energy as well as the message of all these great Masters is one of love and compassion. One cannot be a Master or a Divine being without being full of love and compassion. No Master and no Divine being can advocate violence and harm to one another. Terrorism is not a word in the dictionary of any spiritual being, let alone a great Master, and therefore cannot be part of the teaching of any great Master. All those who indulge in violence in the name of religion or the words of their Masters are misinterpreting, distorting and violating the truths that their Masters propounded.

Content: Krishna’s universal form was displayed not to frighten Arjuna, though it did frighten him. It was displayed to demonstrate to Arjuna the Supreme Truth of the Universe, of Existence. Krishna merely displayed the neutrality of Existence, by showing that destruction follows creation, and creation follows destruction. Such is Nature.

Content: The fearful form of Kali is the outer expression of the experience of destroying one’s ego, which is the body she dances on. A Master too is ruthless in destroying the ego of a disciple who comes to him. That is the nature of the Master. Those who are afraid need to stay away.

Content: It is easy to intellectually accept these truths. It is easy to say, I surrender to the Master and he can do whatever he wants. It is easy to say that you are not uncomfortable with the process. But the surrender and acceptance last only as long as it does not cause discomfort to you. When the Master calls, you will have a

Content: hundred other things to do. As long as the Master is a weekend Master, and preferably an alternate-weekend Master, synchronized with your other plans, he is acceptable to you. Otherwise he is a nuisance.

Content: Do not worry about who is a higher form: Shiva or Vishnu, Lakshmi or Kali. They are all the same form and the same energy. They wear different makeup to suit your personality and the occasion, that is all. Go beyond the form; grasp the formless energy and surrender. You will be in bliss.

Content: Only in This Way Can You Reach Me

Content: 11.50 Sanjaya said: Krishna, while speaking to Arjuna, revealed His Form with four arms,

Content: Then assuming His human form He consoled the terrified Arjuna.

Content: 11.51 Arjuna said: Seeing this wonderful human form,

Content: My mind is now calm and I am restored to my original nature.

Content: 11.52 Bhagavan said: The four-armed Form that you have seen is rare to behold.

Content: 160

Content: Even the celestials are forever aspiring to see this Form.

Content: 11.53 The four-armed Form that you have seen with your transcendental eyes cannot be understood simply by study of the Vedas, nor by undergoing penances or charity or worship;

Content: One cannot see Me as I am by these means.

Content: 11.54 My dear Arjuna, only by undivided devotional service can you understand Me as I am, standing before you, being seen directly.

Content: Only in this way can you reach Me.

Content: 11.55 My dear Arjuna, one who is engaged entirely in My devotional service, free from attachment, full of love for every entity, surely comes to Me.

Content: This statement coming from the mouth of Krishna may be taken as the simple, direct Truth.

Content: Krishna now appears in front of Arjuna first in His four-handed beautiful Divine Form that Arjuna is comfortable with, and finally as Vasudeva Krishna, in His gentle human form that Arjuna is so familiar with.

Content: But the familiarity ends there. Having seen what Krishna really is through His Divine Form of Narayana, with four arms bearing the discus and mace, and also in His terrifying Cosmic Form as mahakala, Arjuna now has an understanding of the unlimited magnitude of the personality in front of him.

Content: In whatever form Krishna now appears, this

Content: understanding would remain with Arjuna. It is said that when Krishna was born to Devaki, He presented to her and Vasudeva, His father, His form with four hands to comfort them in their captivity, and later changed it to the human form.

Content: Arjuna has now seen Krishna in all His forms. The true Universal Form of virata roopa or vishwaroopa, that Arjuna found fearsome; the beautiful, much gentler, adorable form with four hands (bearing mace and discus in two hands, and the other two hands signifying protection and the giving of boons), and finally back to the human form that Arjuna has always known.

Content: Krishna says even the great sages, the enlightened Masters have not seen the sights that Arjuna has seen. That is very true. Enlightened Masters cannot see visions. When an enlightened being sees another enlightened being, it is in the energy form. To be able to see the gross physical form, both need to readjust their frequencies.

Content: When one of my devotees saw Mahavatar Baba in the Himalayas, she saw Him in the human form. Normally I would not be able to do that. I can only see his energy form. A devotee is able to see the form as physical and real since the Master readjusts His frequency to the visionary capacities of the devotee, or as in the case of Arjuna, gives him divine vision to perceive the Cosmic Form.

Content: For other people, no amount of spiritual practices and knowledge can make this happen. This is the space of bhakti, pure devotion.

Content: Ramakrishna says about one's relationship to a Master: 'The love of a chaste wife for her husband, the attachment of a miser to his hoarded wealth, the craving of a pleasure seeker for sensual pleasures, all these rolled into one and directed towards the Master is true bhakti, devotion.'

Content: Krishna concludes this chapter with a clear direction of what a devotee should do to reach Him. It is as simple as 1, 2, 3.

Content: 'Work for Me,' He says, 'work for My mission. Surrender to Me as the Supreme with no reservations. Have no attachment to whatever you do, leave the results to Me, surrender the fruits of your action to Me. Look upon everyone as your own Self, without dislike and hatred.'

Content: What Krishna says here is very significant. 'Work for Me,' He says. 'He who works for Me comes to Me.' All disciples and devotees must understand this. Devotion is not about keeping a statue or a photo and praying to it. You can be a gazer all your life and nothing will come out of it. What is needed in addition are effort and sincerity in action that are in tune with what the Master teaches.

Content: I tell my disciples:

Content: 'If you sit and gaze at me and feel joyful seeing my form, you are chasing me. At best you get eye candy and brain candy, sweet words and a sweet form that makes you feel happy. Then you think I will be leaving soon and feel unhappy. You miss the present moment of my being with you and speculate with regret on my absence that may follow.

Content: 'If instead, you work for my Mission, spreading my word and philosophy, I shall chase you. I shall always be with you, wherever you are. You do not even need to come to me. I shall come to you.'

Content: May the blessings of the Supreme Lord be upon you all!

Content: Q: Master, the vision Krishna gave Arjuna, is it the same as what Christianity and other religions describe through the word Grace? It is such a beautiful word brimming with meaning. Can you please elaborate?

Content: Ma, Grace is one of the greatest mysteries of life. Grace just happens; it can never be created. Grace is the flowering of our being, just the way a lotus opens up to the sun. It can never be forced, never just imagined.

Content: Please understand, when our inner awareness rises to its peak, we become silent, we become compassionate, we become blissful. When this happens in us unbidden, the total effect within our mind-body is Grace, and this Grace radiates from every cell, every pore of our system.

Content: The individual does not have to be beautiful by dictionary definition. It is not external beauty. This beauty that comes from within is Grace.

Content: Let us look at a chimney lamp with a flame lit inside. Till the flame is lit, we look at the outer glass covering. We say, 'He is handsome, she is ugly', etc. All we see is the outer cover. Then the lamp is lit. We then see the beauty of the flame. That is where real beauty is. That is

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: Grace, the inner flame, the true inner beauty. The light radiates throughout the mind-body and then the material mind-body matters no more. There is a beautiful inner aura that surrounds us.

Content: Grace is so misunderstood. It is not outward beauty as we think. It is always from within. Our words will no longer be just words, they will be music. Our anger will be energy. Our laughter will be ecstasy.

Content: Grace happens when we trust Existence. In the space where there is no mind and no thoughts, Grace just descends. It will surround us. It will follow us.

Content: When Arjuna was ready, when his mind turned silent finally, Grace descended on him from the Supreme Lord. There was nothing that he did, that he needed to do. When he was ready, it just happened. That is the way it works with all Masters. When we are in tune with them, their Grace descends on us. We are then a different person. We are indeed reborn.

Content: Just be patient and wait. When we are ready Grace will come.

Content: MEDITATION:

Content: I think it is now time for us to meditate to experience what Arjuna is seeing. Once again the three points:

Content: Is it possible to experience Krishna Consciousness? Yes, it is possible.

Content: 165

Content: What is the qualification? Our being present here is enough.

Content: Now all we need to do is put our whole consciousness intensely into the meditation.

Content: The meditation will take at least 20 minutes. If you feel you cannot or do not want to sit for 20 minutes, you are free to leave.

Content: If you can do so, we shall enter into the meditation. Please don’t leave in between. Please sit straight and close your eyes. I shall guide you step by step.

Content: Pray intensely to the Parabrahma Krishna, Universal Consciousness, in whatever name you know, in whatever form you know. Pray to that Energy to give a glimpse of His Being to you, a glimpse of the experience that Arjuna received and which all the enlightened Masters experienced.

Content: Pray to the Universal Energy, It responds to your thoughts. Don’t think your prayers are dead words. They are living communication.

Content: Inhale and exhale as slowly as possible and as deeply as possible. Concentrate and bring your attention between your eyebrows, on your Ajna chakra. Slowly, but very deeply concentrate on your Ajna Chakra. Without forcing yourself, put your awareness naturally on your Ajna Chakra.

Content: Slowly start visualizing the whole Universe moving inside your head. Feel this clearly inside your head.

Content: The space that is in front of you, in your inner space, the whole Universe is moving. See the sun, moon and all the planets. Visualize this clearly, intensely. Slowly relax the body, be one with the Universal Consciousness. Feel the experience of being one with the Universe.

Content: You are seeing clearly the sun, moon, stars and planets. Just disappear into the Universal Consciousness. Forget your name, your form, all the conditionings, your profession, your gender and your country, everything about yourself. Forget your identity and see the whole Universe intensely. Just see the moving Universe intensely, all the planets, the stars, all the suns, moons.

Content: Disappear into the Universal Consciousness. Lose the identity, the root cause of all the thoughts; let it disappear into the Universal Consciousness. Experience the bliss, the fulfilling bliss of the whole Universe. Expand and disappear into that Universe.

Content: Dissolve into the Universal Consciousness. Be in nithyanandam, eternal bliss!

Content: Thus ends the eleventh chapter named Vishvaroopa-Darshana Yoga, Vision of the Cosmic Form, of the Upanishad of the Bhagavad Gita, the scripture of Yoga dealing with the Science of the Absolute, in the form of the dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna.

Content: BhagavadGita

Content: Scientific Research on

Content: Bhagavad Gita

Content: Several institutions have conducted experiments using scientific and statistically supported techniques to verify the truth behind the Bhagavad Gita. Notable amongst them is the work carried out by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, whose findings are published through Maharishi Ved Vigyan Vishwa Vidyapeetam.

Content: Studies conducted using meditation techniques related to truths expressed in the verses of the Bhagavad Gita have shown that the quality of life is significantly improved through meditation. These studies have found that meditators experience a greater sense of peace resulting in a reduced tendency towards conflict.

Content: Meditators gain greater respect for and appreciation of others. Their own inner fulfilment increases resulting in improved self-respect and self-reliance, leading to Self Actualization.

Content: One's ability to focus along with brain function integration is enhanced. These have resulted in greater comprehension, creativity, faster response time in decision-making and superior psychomotor coordination.

Content: Stress levels have been shown to decrease with enhanced sensory perception and overall health. The tendency towards depression has been clearly shown to decrease.

Content: 168

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: There is enough evidence to show that as a result of meditation, individuals gain a better ethical lifestyle that in turn improves their interaction with others in the community, resulting in less conflict and crime. Group meditation of 7000 people (square root of 1% of world population at the time of the study) was significantly correlated to a reduction in conflict worldwide.

Content: Meditation leads to higher levels of consciousness. Through the research tools of Applied Kinesiology, Dr. David Hawkins (author of the book Power vs. Force) and others have shown that human consciousness has risen in the last few decades, crossing a critical milestone for the first time in human history. Dr. Hawkins’ research also documents that the Bhagavad Gita is at the very highest level of Truth conveyed to humanity.

Content: We acknowledge with gratitude the work done by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi institutions and Dr. David Hawkins in establishing the truth of this great scripture.

Content: 169

Content: BhagavadGita

Content: Kuru Family Tree

Content: Step brothers

Content: Dhitharashtra: The blind King, to whom the happenings on the battlefield are being narrated

Content: Gandhari - 1st wife

Content: Dhruryodhana and his 99 brothers

Content: Vaishya - 2nd wife

Content: Yuyutsu

Content: Kaurave Princes

Content: Pandu: the original King who handed over the kingdom and care of his 5 sons to his brother Dhitharashtra

Content: Kunti - 1st wife

Content: Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna

Content: Madri - 2nd wife

Content: Nakula, Sahadeva

Content: Draupadi-wife to all five Pandava

Content: Subhadra- Arjuna's wife, Krishna's sister

Content: Abhimanyu-son of Arjuna & Subhadra

Content: Draupadeyah- five sons of Draupadi

Content: Pandava Princes

Content: 170

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: Glossary of Key Characters in the Bhagavad Gita

Content: Pandava's Side:

Content: Krishna: God Incarnate; Related to both Kaurava and Pandava; Arjuna's charioteer in the war

Content: Drupada: A great warrior and father of Draupadi

Content: Drishtadummna: The son of King Drupada

Content: Shikhandi: A mighty archer and a transexual person

Content: Virata: Abhimanyu's father-in-law; King of a neighboring kingdom

Content: Yuyudhana: Krishna's charioteer and a great warrior

Content: Kashiraj: King of neighboring kingdom, Kashi

Content: Chekitan: A great warrior

Content: Kuntibhoj: Adoptive father of Kunti, the mother of first three Pandava princes

Content: Purujit: Brother of Kuntibhoj

Content: Shaibya: Leader of the Shibi tribe

Content: Dhrishtaketu: King of Chedis

Content: Uttamouja: A great warrior

Content: 171

Content: BhagavadGita

Content: Kaurava’s Side:

Content: Sanjay: Charioteer and narrator of events to Dhritharashtra

Content: Bhishma: Great grandfather of the Kauraya & Pandava; Great warrior

Content: Drona: A great archer and teacher to both Kaurava and Arjuna

Content: Vikarna: Third of the Kaurava brothers

Content: Karna: Panadava’s half brother, born to Kunti before her marriage

Content: Ashvatthama: Drona’s son and Achilles heel; Said to always speak the truth

Content: Kripacharya: Teacher of martial arts to both Kaurava and Pandava

Content: Shalya: King of neighboring kingdom and brother of Madra, Nakula and Sahadeva’s mother

Content: Soumadatti: King of Bahikas

Content: Dushassana: One of Kaurava brothers; responsible for insulting Draupadi

Content: 172

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: Meaning of Common Sanskrit Words

Content: For purposes of simplicity, the phonetic of Sanskrit has not been faithfully followed in this work. No accents and other guides have been used.

Content: Aswattama is spelt as also Asvattama, Aswathama, Aswatama etc., all being accepted.

Content: Correctly pronounced, Atma is Aatma; however in the English format a is used both for a and aa, e for e and ee and so on. The letter s as used here can be pronounced as s or ss or sh; for instance Siva is pronounced with a sibilant sound, neither quite s nor sh. Many words here spelt with 's' can as well be spelt as 'sh'.

Content: [In the glossary, however, letters have been indicated in brackets to facilitate pronunciation as intended in the Sanskrit text.]

Content: This glossary is not meant to be a pronunciation guide, merely an explanatory aid. It is merely a compilation of common words.

Content: A(a)bharana: adornment; vastra(a)bharana is adornment with clothes

Content: Abhy(a)asa: exercise; practice

Content: A(a)cha(a)rya: teacher; literally 'one who walks with'

Content: Advaita: concept of non-duality; that individual self and the cosmic SELF are one and the same; as different from the concepts of dvaita and visishta(a)dvaita, which consider self and SELF to be mutually exclusive

Content: 173

Content: A(a)ha(a)ra: food; also with reference to sensory inputs as in pratya(a)ha(a)ra

Content: A(a)jna: order, command; the third eye energy centre

Content: A(a)ka(a)sa: space, sky; subtlest form of energy of universe

Content: Amruta, amrit: divine nectar whose consumption leads to immortality

Content: Ana(a)hata: that which is not created; heart energy centre

Content: A(a)nanda: bliss; very often used to refer to joy, happiness etc.

Content: Anjana: collyrium, black pigment used to paint the eye lashes

Content: A(a)pas: water

Content: Aarti: worshipping with a flame, light, as with a lamp lit with oiled wick, or burning camphor

Content: A(a)shirwa(a)d: blessing

Content: Ashta(a)nga yoga: eight fold path to enlightenment prescribed by Patanjali in his Yoga Sutra

Content: A(a)shraya: grounded in reality; a(a)shraya-dosha, defect related to reality

Content: A(a)tma, A(a)tman: individual Self; part of the universal Brahman

Content: Beedi: local Indian cigarette

Content: Beeja: seed; beeja-mantra refers to the single syllable mantras used to invoke certain deities,

Content: e.g., gam for Ganesha.

Content: Bhagava(a)n: literally God; often used for an enlightened master

Content: Bha(a)vana: visualization

Content: Bhakti: devotion; bhakta, a devotee

Content: Brahma: the Creator; one of the Hindu trinity of supreme Gods, the other two being Vishnu, and Shiva

Content: Brahmacha(a)ri: literally one who moves with the true reality, Brahman, one without fantasies, but usually taken to mean a celibate; brahmacharya is the quality or state of being a brahmachaari

Content: Brahman: ultimate reality of the Divine, universal ntelligent energy

Content: Bra(a)hman: person belonging to the class engaged in Vedic studies, priestly class

Content: Buddhi: mind, intelligence; mind is also called by other names, manas, chitta etc.

Content: Buddhu: a fool

Content: Chakra: literally a 'wheel'; refers to energy centres in the mind-body system

Content: Chakshu: eye, intelligent power behind senses

Content: Chanda(a)la: an untouchable; usually one who skins animals.

Content: Chandana: sandalwood

Content: Chitta: mind; also manas, buddhi.

Content: Dakshina(a)yana: Sun's southward movement starting 21st June

Content: Darshan: vision; usually referred to seeing divinity

Content: Dharma: righteousness

Content: Dhee: wisdom.

Content: Deeksha: grace bestowed by the Master and the energy transferred by the Master onto disciple at initiation or any other time, may be through a mantra, a touch, a glance or even a thought

Content: Dosha: defect

Content: Dhya(a)na: meditation

Content: Drishti: sight, seeing with mental eye

Content: Gada: weapon; similar to a mace; also Gada(a)yudha

Content: Gopi, Gopika: literally a cowherd; usually referred to the devotees, who played with Krishna, and were lost in Him

Content: Gopura, gopuram: temple tower

Content: Grihasta: a householder, a married person; coming from the word griha, meaning house

Content: Guna: the three human behavioural characteristics or predispositions; satva, rajas and tamas

Content: Guru: Master; literally one who leads from gu (darkness) to ru (light)

Content: Gurukul, Gurukulam: literally 'tradition of guru', refers to the ancient education system in which children were handed over to a guru at a very young age by parents for upbringing and education

Content: Homa: ritual to Agni, the God of fire; metaphorically represents the transfer of energy from the energy of A(a)ka(a)sa (space), through V(a)ayu (Air), Agni (Fire),

Content: A(a)pas (Water), and Prithvi (Earth) to humans. Also y(a)agna, yagna

Content: Iccha: desire

Content: Ida: along with pingala and sushumna the virtual energy pathways through which pranic energy flows

Content: Ithiha(a)sa: legend, epic, mythological stories; also pura(a)na

Content: Jaati: birth; jaati-dosha, defect related to birth

Content: Ja(a)grata: wakefulness

Content: Japa: literally ‘muttering’; continuous repetition of the name of divinity

Content: Jeeva samadhi: burial place of an enlightened Master, where his spirit lives on

Content: Jiva (pronounced as jeeva) means living

Content: Jyotisha: Astrology; jyotishi is an astrologer

Content: Kaivalya: liberation; same as moksha, nirva(a)na

Content: Ka(a)la: time; also maha(a)ka(a)la

Content: Kalpa: vast period of time; Yuga is a fraction of Kalpa

Content: Kalpana: imagination

Content: Karma: spiritual law of cause and effect, driven by va(a)sana and samska(a)ra

Content: Kosha: energy layer surrounding body; there are 5 such layers. These are: annamaya or body, Pra(a)namaya or breath, manomaya or thoughts, vigya(a)namaya or sleep and a(a)nandamaya or bliss koshas

Content: Kriya: action

Content: 177

Content: Kshana: moment in time; refers to time between two thoughts

Content: Kshatriya: caste or varna of warriors

Content: Kundalini: energy that resides at the root chakra 'mula(a)dha(a)ra' (pronounced as moolaadha(a)ra)

Content: Maha(a): great; as in maharshi, great sage; maha(a)va(a)kya, great scriptural saying

Content: Ma(a)la: a garland, a necklace; rudra(a)ksha mala is a garland made of the seeds of the rudra(a)ksha tree

Content: Mananam: thinking, meditation

Content: Manas: mind; also buddhi, chitta

Content: Mandir: temple

Content: Mangala: auspicious; mangal sutra, literally auspicious thread, the yellow or gold thread or necklace a married Hindu woman wears

Content: Mantra: a sound, a formula; sometimes a word or a set of words, which because of their inherent sounds, have energizing properties. Mantras are used as sacred chants to worship the Divine; mantra, tantra and yantra are approaches in spiritual evolution

Content: Ma(a)ya: that which is not, not reality, illusion; all life is ma(a)ya according to advaita

Content: Moksha: liberation; same as nirva(a)na, sama(a)dhi, turiya etc.

Content: Mula(a)dha(a)ra: the first energy centre, moola is root; a(a)dhara is foundation, here existence

Content: Nadi: river

Content: Naadi: nerve; also an energy pathway that is not physical

Content: Na(a)ga: a snake; a na(a)ga-sa(a)dhu is an ascetic belonging to a group that wears no clothes

Content: Namaska(a)r: traditional greeting with raised hands, with palms closed

Content: Na(a)nta: without end

Content: Na(a)ri: woman

Content: Nidhidhy(a)asan: what is expressed

Content: Nimitta: reason; nimitta-dosha, defect based on reason

Content: Nirva(a)na: liberation; same as moksha, sama(a)dhi

Content: Niyama: the second of eight paths of Patanjali’s Ashta(a)nga Yoga; refers to a number of day-to-day rules of observance for a spiritual path

Content: Pa(a)pa: sin

Content: Phala: fruit; phalasruti refers to result of worship

Content: Paramahamsa: literally the 'supreme swan'; refers to an enlightened being

Content: Parikrama: the ritual of going around a holy location, such as a hill or water spot

Content: Parivra(a)jaka: wandering by an ascetic monk

Content: Pingala: please see Ida.

Content: Pra(a)na: life energy; also refers to breath; pra(a)na(a)ya(a)ma is control of breath

Content: Pratya(a)hara: literally 'staying away from food'; in this case refers to control of all senses as part of the eight fold ashta(a)nga yoga

Content: Prithvi: earth energy

Content: Purohit: priest

Content: Puja (pronounced as pooja): normally any worship, but often referred to a ritualistic worship

Content: Punya: merit, beneficence

Content: Pura(a)na: epics and mythological stories such as Maha(a)bha(a)rata, Ra(a)ma(a)yana etc.

Content: Purna (prounounced poorna): literally ‘complete’; refers in the advaita context to reality

Content: Rajas, rajasik: the mid characteristic of the three human guna or behaviour mode, referring to aggressive action

Content: Putra: son; putri: daughter

Content: Rakta: blood

Content: Ra(a)tri: night

Content: Rishi: a sage

Content: Sa(a)dhana: practice, usually a spiritual practice

Content: Sa(a)dhu: literally a ‘good person’; refers to an ascetic; same as sanya(a)si

Content: Sahasrana(a)ma: thousand names of God; available for many Gods and Goddesses, which devotees recite

Content: Sahasrara: lotus with thousand petals; the crown energy centre

Content: Sakti: energy; intelligent energy; Para(a)sakti refers to universal energy, divinity; considered feminine; masculine aspect of Para(a)sakti is purusha

Content: Sama(a)dhi: state of no-mind, no-thoughts; literally, becoming one's original state; liberated, enlightened state. Three levels of samadhi are referred to as sahaja, which is transient, savikalpa, in which the person is no longer capable of normal activities, and nirvikalpa, where the liberated person performs activities as before.

Content: Samsaya: doubt

Content: Samska(a)ra: embedded memories of unfulfilled desires stored in the subconscious that drive one into decisions, into karmic action

Content: Samyama: complete concentration

Content: Sankalpa: decision

Content: Sanya(a)s: giving up worldly life; sanya(a)si or sanya(a)sin, a monk, an ascetic

Content: sanya(a)sini, refers to a female monk

Content: Sa(a)stra: sacred texts

Content: Satva, sa(a)tvic: the highest guna of spiritual calmness

Content: Siddhi: extraordinary powers attained through spiritual practice

Content: Sishya: disciple

Content: Simha: lion; Simha-Swapna: nightmare

Content: Shiva: rejuvenator in the trinity; often spelt as Shiva. Shiva also means 'causeless auspiciousness'; in this sense, Shivara(a)tri, the day when Shiva is worshipped is that moment when the power of this causeless auspiciousness is intense

Content: 181

Content: Smarana: remembrance; constantly remembering the divine

Content: Smruti: literally 'that which is remembered'; refers to later day Hindu works which are rules, regulations, laws and epics, such as Manu's works, Puranas etc.

Content: Sraddha: trust, faith, belief, confidence

Content: Sravan: hearing

Content: Srishti: creation, which is created

Content: Sruti: literally 'that which is heard'; refers to the ancient scriptures of Veda, Upanishad and

Content: Bhagavad Gita: considered to be words of God

Content: Stotra: devotional verses, to be recited or sung

Content: Sudra: caste or varna of manual labourers

Content: Sutra: literally 'thread'; refers to epigrams, short verses which impart spiritual techniques

Content: Sunya: literally zero; however, Buddha uses this word to mean reality

Content: Sushumna: Please see 'ida'

Content: Swa(a)dishta(a)na: where Self is established; the groin or spleen energy centre

Content: Swapna: dream

Content: Swatantra: free

Content: Tamas, taamaslc: the lowest guna of laziness or inaction

Content: Tantra: esoteric Hindu techniques used in spiritual evolution

Content: Tapas: severe spiritual endeavour, penance

Content: Thatagata: Buddhahood, state of being such...a pali word

Content: Tirta: water; tirtham is a holy river and a pilgrimage centre

Content: Trika(a)la: all three time zones, past, present and future;

Content: trika(a)lajna(a)ni is one who can

Content: see all three at the same time; an enlightened being is beyond time and space

Content: Turiya (pronounced tureeya): state of samadhi, no-mind

Content: Upanishad: literally 'sitting below alongside' referring to a disciple learning from the master;

Content: refers to the ancient Hindu scriptures which along with the Veda, form sruti

Content: Uttara(a)yana: Sun's northward movement

Content: Vaisya: caste or varna of tradesmen

Content: Va(a)naprastha: the third stage in one's life, (the first stage being that of a student, and the

Content: second that of householder) when a householder, man or woman, gives up worldly activities and focuses on spiritual goals

Content: Varna: literally colour; refers to the caste grouping in the traditional Hindu social system; originally based on aptitude, and later corrupted to privilege of birth

Content: Va(a)sana: the subtle essence of memories and desires, samska(a)ra, that get carried forward from birth to birth

Content: Vastra: clothes

Content: 183

Content: Vastra(a)harana: removal of clothes, often used to refer to Draupadi's predicament in the

Content: Maha(a)bha(a)rata, when she was unsuccessfully disrobed by the Kaurava prince

Content: Va(a)yu: air

Content: Veda: literally knowledge; refers to ancient Hindu scriptures, believed to have been received by enlightened rishi at the being level; also called sruti, along with Upanishad

Content: Vibhuti (pronounced vibhooti): sacred ash worn by many Hindus on forehead; said to remind themselves of the transient nature of life; of glories too

Content: Vidhi: literally law, natural law; interpreted as fate or destiny

Content: Vidya: knowledge, education

Content: Visha(a)da: depression, dilemma etc.

Content: Vishnu: preserver in the trinity; His incarnations include Krishna, Rama etc. in ten incarnations; also means 'all encompassing'

Content: Vishvarúpa (pronounced vishwaroopa): universal form

Content: Yama: discipline as well as death; One of the eight fold paths prescribed in Patanjali's

Content: Ashta(a)nga Yoga; refers to spiritual regulations of satya (truth), ahimsa (non violence), aparigraha (living simply); asteya (not coveting other's properties) and brahmacharya (giving up

Content: fantasies); yama is also the name of the Hindu God of justice and death

Content: Yantra: literally 'tool'; usually a mystical and powerful graphic diagram, such as the Sri Chakra, inscribed on a copper plate, and sanctified in a ritual blessed by a divine presence or an enlightened Master

Content: Yoga: literally union, union of the individual self and the divine SELF; often taken to mean

Content: Hatha yoga, which is one of the components of yogasana, relating to specific body postures

Content: Yuga: a long period of time as defined in Hindu scriptures; there are four yugas: satya, treta, dwa(a)para and kali, the present being kali yuga

Content: 185

Content: ॐ पार्थाय प्रतिबोधितां भगवता नारायणेन स्वयं व्यासेन ग्रथितां पुराणमुनिना मध्ये महाभारतं अद्वैतामृतवर्षिणीं भगवतीं अष्टादशाध्यायिनीं अम्बा त्वामनुसन्दधामि भगवद्गीते भवद्वेशिनीं

Content: Om paarthaaya pratibodhitaam bhagavataa naaraayanena svayam Vyaasena grathitaam puraanamuninaa madhye mahaabhaarataam Advaitaamrutavarshineem Bhagavateem ashtaadsaadhyaayineem Amba tvaamanusandadhaami bhagavadgeete bhavadveshineem

Content: वसुदेवसुतं देवं कम्सचाणूरमर्दनं देवकीपरमानन्दं कृष्णं वन्दे जगद्गुरुं

Content: Vasudeva Sutam Devam Kamsa Chaanura MardanaM Devakee Paramaanandam Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum

Content: अर्जुन उवाच

Content: मदनुग्रहाय परमं गुह्यमध्यात्मसंझ्ञितम्‌। यत्त्वयोक्तं वचस्तेन मोहोऽयं विगतो मम॥११.१॥

Content: Madanugrahaya paramam guhyam adhyatmasamjnitam Yat tvayoktam vacastena moho'yam vigato mama 11.1

Content: arjunah uvaca: Arjuna said; mat-anugrahaya: out of compassion for me; paramam: supreme; guhyam: confidential; adhyatma: spiritual; samjnitam: in the matter of; yat: what; tvaya: by You; uktam: said; vacah: words; tena: by that; mohah: delusion; ayam: this; vigatah: removed; mama- my

Content: 11.1 Arjuna says: ‘O Lord! By listening to Your wisdom on the supreme secret of Existence and your glory, I feel that my delusion has disappeared.’

Content: भवाप्ययौ हि भूतानां श्रुतौ विस्तरशो मया। त्वत्तः कमलपत्राक्ष माहात्म्यमपि चाव्ययम्‌॥११.२॥

Content: भवाप्ययौ हि भूतानां श्रुतौ विस्तरशो मया। त्वत्तः कमलपत्राक्ष माहात्म्यमपि चाव्ययम्‌॥११.२॥

Content: tvattah kamalapatraakṣa mahatmyamapi cavvyayam 11.2

Content: Bhavaapyayau hi bhootaanaam shruthou vistarasho mayaa Twattaha kamalapatraaksha mahaatmyamapi chaavyayam 11.2

Content: bhava: creation; apyayau: dissolution; hi: certainly; bhootaanam: of all living entities; shrutau: have heard; vistarasah: detail; maya: by me; tvattah: from You; kamala-patra-aksa: O lotus-eyed one; mahatmyam: glories; api: also; ca: and; avyayam: inexhaustible.

Content: 11.2 O Krishna! I have heard from you about the creation and destruction of all beings, Also, Your inexhaustible greatness.

Content: एवमेतद्यथात्थ त्वमात्मानं परमेश्वर। दृष्टुमिच्छामि ते रूपमैश्वरं पुरुषोत्तम॥११.३॥

Content: Evametadhyathaattha tvamaatmaanam parameshvara Dhrashtumichchhami te roopamaishwaram purushothama 11.3

Content: evam: thus; etat: this; yatha: as it is; attha: have spoken; tvam: You; atmaanam: the soul; parama-isvara: the Supreme Lord; drastum: to see; icchami: I wish; te: You; rupam: form; aisvaram: divine; purusa-uttama: best of manifested forms

Content: 11.3 Purushottama! You have declared what You are, O Lord Supreme, I wish to see the Divine Form of yours.

Content: 188

Content: मन्यसे यदि तच्छक्यं मया द्रष्टुमिति प्रभो। योगेश्वर ततो मे त्वं दर्शयात्मानमव्ययम्।।११.४।।

Content: manyase: You think; yadi: if; tat: that; sakyam: able; maya: by me; drastum: to see; iti: thus; prabho: O Lord; yoga-isvara: O Lord of all mystic power; tatah: then; me: unto me; tvam: You; darsaya: show; atmanam: Yourself; avyayam: imperishable.

Content: 11.4 If you think it is possible for me to see it, then please, O Lord of Yoga and all mystic power, Show me Your form of eternal Universal Self.

Content: श्री भगवानुवाच पश्य मे पार्थ रूपाणि शतशोडथ सहस्रशः। नानाविधानि दिव्यानि नानावर्णाकृतीनि च।।११.५।।

Content: sri-bhagavan uvaca: Krishna said; pasya: behold; me: Mine; partha: arjuna; rupani: forms; satasah: hundreds; atha: also; sahasrasah: thousands; nana-vidhani: of different nature; divyani: divine; nana: various; varna: colors; akrtini: shapes; ca: also

Content: 11.5 Bhagavan said: O Paar tha, behold my hundreds and

Content: पश्यादित्यान्वसून्रुद्रानश्विनौ मरुतस्तथा। बहून्यदृष्टपूर्वाणि पश्याऽश्चर्याणि भारत॥११.६॥

Content: Pashya: see; adityan: the twelve sons of Aditi; vasun: the eight Vasus; rudran: the eleven forms of Rudra; asvinau: the two Asvinis; marutah: the forty-nine Maruts (wind deities); tatha: also; bahuni: many; adrstah: that you have never seen; purvani: before; pasya: see; ascaryani: wonderful; bharata: O best of the Bharatas.

Content: 11.6 O Bharata, See the Aditya, the Vasu, the Rudra, the Ashwin, the Marut and Many wonders you have never seen before.

Content: इहैकस्थं जगत्कृत्स्नं पश्याद्य सचराचरम्। मम देहे गुडाकेश यचान्यदद्रष्टुमिच्छसि॥११.७॥

Content: iha: in this; eka-stham: situated in one; jagat: the universe; krtsnam: whole; pasya: see; adya: now; sa: with; cara: moving; acaram: not moving; mama: My; dehe: in this body; gudaakesha: O Arjuna; yachhaanyaad: whatever else; drashtum: to see; ichhasi: you wish.

Content: gudakesa: O Arjuna; yat: that; ca: also; anyat: other; drastum: to see; icchasi: you like.

Content: 11.7 O Arjuna, now in My body, all the moving and the unmoving, Whatever else you wish to see, everything integrated into this body.

Content: न तु मां शक्यसे द्रष्टुमनेनैव स्वचक्षुषा। दिव्यं ददामि ते चक्षुः पश्य मे योगमैश्वरम् ॥११.८॥

Content: Na tu maam shakyase dhrashtumanenaiva svachakshushaa Divyam dadhaami te chakshuhu pashya me yogamaishwaram 11.8

Content: na: never; tu: but; mam: Me; sakyase: able; drastum: to see; anena: by this; eva: certainly; sva-caksusa: with your own eyes; divyam: divine; dadami: I give; te: you; cakshuh: eyes; pasya: see; te: My; yogam aisvaram: divine powers.

Content: 11.8 But you cannot see Me with these your physical eyes. Let Me give you the Divine eye; behold my Divine power

Content: सञ्जय उवाच

Content: एवमुक्त्वा ततो राजन्महायोगेश्वरो हरिः। दर्शयामास पार्थाय परमं रूपमैश्वरम् ॥११.९॥

Content: Sanjaya uvaacha

Content: Evamukthwaa tato raajanmaha yogeshwaro harihi Darshayaamaasa paarthaaya paramam roopamaishwaram 11.9

Content: 191

Content: sanjayah uvaca: Sanjaya said; evam: thus; uktva: saying; tatah: thereafter; rajan: O King; maha-yoga-isvarah: the great Lord of Yoga; harih: Krishna; darsayam asa: showed; parthaya: to Arjuna; paramam: divine rupam: form; aisvaram: opulences.

Content: 11.9 Sanjaya said: O King, having spoken thus, the great Lord of Yoga, Krishna, showed to Arjuna His Supreme Cosmic Form,

Content: अनेकवक्त्रनयनमनेकाद्भुतदर्शनम्‌ । अनेकदिव्याभरणं दिव्यानेकोद्यतायुधम्‌ ॥ १९.९० ॥

Content: Anekavaktranayanamanekaadbhutadarshanam Anekaadivyaabharanam divyaanekodhyataayudham 11.10

Content: aneka: various; vaktra: mouths; nayanam: eyes; aneka: various; adbhuta: wonderful; darsanam: sights; aneka: many; divya: divine; abharanam: ornaments; divya: divine; aneka: various; udyata: uplifted; ayudham: weapons

Content: 11.10 Numerous mouths and eyes, with numerous wonderful sights, numerous divine ornaments, with numerous divine weapons uplifted

Content: दिव्यमाल्याम्बरधरं दिव्यगन्धानुलेपनम्‌ । सर्वाश्चर्यमयं देवमनन्तं विश्वतोमुखम्‌ ॥ १९.९१ ॥

Content: Divyamaalyaambaradharam divyagandhaanulepanam Sarvascharyamayam devamananthanam vishwathomukham 11.11

Content: [SKIPPED page 193 - repeated NVIDIA JSON error]

Content: Tatraikastham jagakrutsnam pravibhaktamanekadha Apashyaddevadevasya shareere paandavas tada 11.13

Content: Tatraikastham jagatkrutsnam pravibhaktamanekadha Apasyaddevadevasya shareere paandavastada 11.13

Content: tatra: there; eka-stham: one place; jagat: universe; krtsnam: completely; pravibhaktam: divided in; anekadha: many groups; apasyat: saw; deva-devasya: God of Gods; sareere: in the body; pandavah: Arjuna; tada: at that time.

Content: 11.13 There, in the body of the God of Gods, the Pandava then saw the whole universe resting in One, with all its infinite parts.

Content: ततः स विस्मयाविष्टो हृष्टरोमा धनञ्जयः। प्रणस्य शिरसा देवं कृताञ्जलिरभाषत ॥ ११९.९४ ॥

Content: Tataha sa vismayaavishto hrishtaromaa dhananjayaha Pranamya shirasaa devam krutaanjalirabhaashata 11.14

Content: tatah: thereafter; sah: he; vismaya-avistah: being overwhelmed with wonder; hrsta-roma: with his bodily hair standing on end; dhananjayah: Arjuna; pranamya: offering obeisances; sirasa: with the head; deviam: to God; krta-anjalih: with folded palms; abhasata: said.

Content: 11.14 Dhananjaya, filled with wonder, his hair standing on end, then bowed his head to the God and spoke with joined palms.

Content: अर्जुन उवाच

Content: पश्यामि देवांस्तव देव देहे सर्वांस्तथा भूतविशेषसङ्घान्‌ । ब्रह्माणमीशं कमलासनस्थमृषींश्च सर्वानुरगांश्च दिव्यान्‌ ॥ ११९.९५ ॥

Content: Arjuna uvaacha:

Content: Pashyaami devaamstava deva dehe Sarvaamstatha bhootavisheshasanghaan Brahmaanameesham kamalaasanastamMrusheemscha sarvaanuragaamscha divyaan 11.15

Content: arjunaḥ uvāca: Arjuna said; paśyāmi: I see; devān: all the gods; tava: Your; deva: O Lord; dehe: in the body; sarvan: all; tatha: also; bhūta: living entities; vīśesa-sanghan: specifically assembled; brahmanam: Brahma; īśam: Lord; kamala-āsana-stham: sitting on the lotus flower; ṛṣīn: great sages; ca: also; sarvan: all; uragan: serpents; ca: also; divyān: divine.

Content: 11.15 Arjuna said; O God, I see all the gods in Your body and many types of beings. Brahma, the Lord of creation seated on the lotus, all the sages and celestial serpents.

Content: अनेकबाहूदरवक्त्रनेत्रं पश्यामि त्वां सर्वतोऽनन्तरूपम्। नान्तं न मध्यं न पुनस्तवादिं पश्यामि विश्वेश्वर विश्वरूप ॥ १११.१६ ॥

Content: Anekabaahoodaravaktranetram pashyaami twam sarvatonantarooapamNaantanam na madhyam na punastavaadim Pashyaami vishveshwara vishwaroopam 11.16

Content: aneka: many; bahu: arms; udara: bellies; vakra: mouths; netram: eyes; paśyāmi: I see; tvam: unto You; sarvatah: from all sides; ananta-rūpam: endless form; na antam: there is no end; na madhyam: there is no middle; na punah: nor again; tava: Your; ādim: beginning; paśyāmi: I see; vīśveśwara: O Lord of the universe; vīśwaroopam: O cosmic form.

Content: 195

Content: tava: Your; adim: beginning; pasyami: I see; visva-isvara: O Lord of the universe; visva-rupa: in the form of the universe.

Content: 11.16 I see Your infinite form on every side, with many arms, stomachs, mouths and eyes; Neither the end, nor the middle nor the beginning do I see, O Lord of the Universe, O Cosmic-Form.

Content: किरीटिनं गदिनं चक्रिणं च तेजोराशिं सर्वतोदीप्तिमन्तम्‌ । पश्यामि त्वां दुर्निरीक्ष्यं समन्ताद्दीप्तानालार्कद्युतिमप्रमेयम्‌ ॥ ११.१७ ॥

Content: Kireetinam gadinam chakrinam cha tejoraashim sarvatodeeptimantamantham Pashyaami tvam durnireekshyam samantaatdeeptaanalaarkadyutimaprameyam 11.17

Content: kiritinam: with helmets; gadinam: with maces; chakrinam: with discs; ca: and; tejah-rasim: radiance; sarvatah: all sides; dipti-mantam: glowing; pasyami: I see; tvam: You; durniriksyam: difficult to see; samantat: spreading; dipta-nala: blazing fire; arka: sun; dyutim: sunshine; aprameyam: immeasurable.

Content: 11.17 I see You with crown, club and discus; a mass of radiance shining everywhere, Difficult to look at, blazing all round like the burning fire and sun in infinite brilliance.

Content: त्वमक्षरं परमं वेदितव्यं त्वमस्य विश्वस्य परं निधानम्‌। त्वमव्ययः शाश्वतधर्मगोप्ता सनातनस्त्वं पुरुषो मतो मे॥११.१८॥

Content: Twamaksharam paramam veditavyam twamasya viswasya param nidhanam‌. Twamavyayah shaashwatadharmagopta sanaatanastwam purusho mato me 11.18

Content: tvam: You; aksharam: inexhaustible; paramam: supreme; veditavyam: to be understood; tvam: You; asya: of this; visvasya: of the universe; param: supreme; nidhanam: basis; tvam: You are; avyayah: inexhaustible; sasvata-dharma-gopta: maintainer of the eternal religion; sanatanah: eternal; tvam: You; purusah: Supreme Personality; matah me: is my opinion.

Content: 11.18 You are the imperishable; the supreme being worthy to be known. You are the great treasure house of this universe.

Content: You are the imperishable Protector of the eternal order. I believe You are the eternal being.

Content: अनादिमध्यान्तमनन्तवीर्यमनन्तबाहुं शशिसूर्यनेत्रम्‌ । पश्यामि त्वां दीप्तहुताशवक्त्रं स्वतेजसा विश्वमिदं तपन्तम्‌॥ ११.१९ ॥

Content: Anaadimadhyantamantaveeryam anantabaahum sashisooryanetram‌ Pashyami twam deeptahutaashavaktram swatejasa vishwamidam tapantam‌ 11.19

Content: Pashyami twam deeptahutaashavaktram swatejasa vishwamidam tapantam 11.19

Content: anadi: without beginning; madhya: without middle; antam: without end; ananta: unlimited; viryam: glorious; ananta: unlimited; bahum: arms; sasi: moon; surya: sun; netram: eyes; pasyami: I see; tvam: You; dipta: blazing; hutasa-vaktram: fire coming out of Your mouth; sava-tejasaa: by Your; visvam: this universe; idam: this; tapantam: heating.

Content: 11.19 I see you without a beginning, middle or end, infinite in power and many arms,

Content: The sun and the moon being Your eyes, the blazing fire your mouth, the whole universe scorched by Your radiance.

Content: द्यावापृथिव्योरिदमन्तरं हि व्याप्तं त्वयैकेन दिशश्च सर्वाः। दृष्ट्वाद्भुतं रूपमुग्रं तवेदं लोकत्रयं प्रव्यथितं महात्मन्॥ ११.२०॥

Content: Dhyaavaapruthivyoridamantaram hi vyaaptam twayaikena dishascha sarvaha

Content: Drishtwaadabhutam roopamugram tavedam lokatrayam pravyathitam mahaatman. 11.20

Content: dyau: in outer space; a-prthivyoḥ: of the earth; idam: this; antaram: in between; hi: certainly; vyaptam: pervaded; tvaya: by You; ekena: by one; diśaḥ: directions; ca: and; sarvaḥ: all; drsṭva: by seeing; adbhutam: wonderful; rūpam: form; ugram: terrible; tava: Your; idam: this; loka: planetary system; trayam: three; pravyathitam: perturbed; maha-atman: O great one.

Content: Krishna: The Cosmic Window

Content: 11.20 This space between earth and the heavens and everything is filled by You alone.

Content: O Great Being, having seen Your wonderful and terrible form, the three worlds tremble with fear.

Content: अमी हि त्वां सुरसङ्घाः विशन्ति केचिद्भीताः प्राञ्जलयो गृणन्ति ।

Content: स्वस्तीत्युक्त्वा महर्षिसिद्धसङ्घाः स्तुवन्ति त्वां स्तुतिभिः पुष्कलाभिः ।।११.२१।।

Content: Amee hi twam sarasanghaa vishanti kechitbeetaha praanjalayo grunanti

Content: Swasteetyuktvaa maharshisiddhasanghaa stuvanti twam stubhihipushkalaabhihi 11.21

Content: ami: all those; hi: certainly; tvam: unto You; sura-sanghah: groups of celestials; visanti: entering; kecit: some of them; bhitah: out of fear; praanjalayaha: with folded hands; grnanti: offering prayers unto; swasti: all peace; iti: thus; uktva: speaking like that; maha-rsi: great sages; siddha-sanghah: realized sages; stuvanti: singing hymns; tvam: unto You; stubhih: with hymns; puskalabhih: sublime.

Content: 11.21 Many celestials enter into You; some praise You in fear with folded hands; Many great masters and sages hail and adore you.

Content: रुद्रादित्या वसवो ये च साध्या विश्वेद्वश्विनौ मरुतश्चोष्मपाश्च ।

Content: गन्धर्वयक्षासुरसिद्धसङ्घा वीकक्षन्ते त्वां विस्मिताश्चैव सर्वे ।।११.२२।।

Content: 199

Content: Rudraadityaa vasavo ye cha saadhyavishvesh'vinau marutashchoshmapaashcha Gandharvayakshaasurasiddhasanghaaveekshante twam vismitaashshchaiva sarve 11.22

Content: rudra: manifestations of Lord Siva; adityah: the Aditya; vasavah: the Vasu; ye: all those; ca: and; sadhyah: the Sadhya; visve: the Visvedeva; asvinau: the Asvini-kumara; marutah: the Marut; ca: and; usma-pah: the forefathers; ca: and; gandharva: of the Gandharva; yaksa: the Yaksa; asura-siddha: the demons and the perfected demigods; sanghah: assemblies; viksante: are seeing; tvam: You; vismitah: in wonder; ca: also; eva: certainly; sarve: all.

Content: 11.22 The Rudra, Aditya, Vasu, Sadhya, Vishvadeva, Ashwin, Marut, Ushmapa and a host of Gandharva, Yaksha, Asura and Sidhha are all looking at You in amazement.

Content: रूपं महत्ते बहुवक्त्रनेत्रं महाबाहो बहुबाहूरुपादम्। बहूदरं बहुदंष्ट्राकरालं दृष्ट्वा लोकाः प्रव्यथितास्तथाहम्॥११.२३॥

Content: Roopam mahathhe bahuvaktranetram mahaaabaho bahubaahoorupaadam Bahoodaram bahudamshhtraakaraalam drushtavaa lokaha pravyathhitastathaaham 11.23

Content: rupam: form; mahat: very great; te: of You; bahu: many; vaktra: faces; netram: eyes; maha-baho: O mighty-armed one;

Content: bahu: many; bahu: arms; uru: thighs; padam: legs; bahu-udaram: many bellies; bahu-damstra: many teeth; karalam: horrible; drstva: seeing; lokah: all the planets; pravyathitah: perturbed; tatha: similarly; aham: I.

Content: 11.23 Having seen Your immeasurable form with many mouths and eyes, with many arms, thighs and feet, with many stomachs and frightening tusks,

Content: O Mighty- armed, the worlds are terrified and so am I.

Content: नभःस्पृशं दीप्तमनेकवर्णं व्यात्ताननं दीप्तविशालनेत्रम्‌। दृष्ट्वा हि त्वां प्रव्यथितान्तरात्मा धृतिं न विन्दामि शमं च विष्णो॥११९.२४॥

Content: Nabhahsprusham deeptamanekavarnam vyaattananam deeptavishaalanetram

Content: Drushtwaa hi twam pravyathitaantaraatma dhritim na vindaami shamam cha vishno 11.24

Content: nabhah-sprsam: touching the sky; diptam: glowing; aneka: many; varniam: color; vyatta: open; ananam: mouth; dipta: shining; visala: very great; netram: eyes; drstva: by seeing; hi: certainly; tvaim: You; pravyathita: perturbed; antah: within; atma: soul; dhritim: steadiness; na: no; vindami: and have; samam: peace; ca: also; visno: O Lord Visnu.

Content: 11.24 Seeing You, Your form touching the sky, flaming in many colors, mouths wide open, large fiery eyes, O Vishnu, I find neither courage nor peace; I am frightened.

Content: 201

Content: दंष्ट्राकरालानि च ते मुखानि दृष्ट्वैव कालानलसन्निभानि । दिशो न जाने न लभे च शर्म प्रसीद देवेश जगन्निवास ॥११.२५॥

Content: Dramshthrakaraalaani cha te mukhaani drushtavaiva kalaanalasannibhaani. Disho na jaane na labhe cha sharma praseeda devesha jagannivaasa 11.25

Content: damstra: teeth; karalani: like that; ca: also; te: Your; mukhani: faces; drstva: seeing; eva: thus; kala-anala: the fire of death; sannibhani: as if blazing; disah: directions; na jane: do not know; na labhe: nor obtain; ca sarma: and grace; prasida: be pleased; deva-isa: O Lord of all lords; jagat-nivasa: refuge of the worlds.

Content: 11.25 Having seen your fearsome mouths with blazing tusks like the fire of the end of the universe, I know not the four directions nor do I find peace. O Lord of the Deva, O Refuge of the Universe, be gracious.

Content: अमी च त्वां धृतराष्ट्रस्य पुत्राः सर्वे सहैवावनिपालसङ्घैः । भीष्मो द्रोणः सूतपुत्रस्तथाऽसौ सहास्मदीयरपि योधमुख्यैः ॥११.२६॥

Content: Amee cha twam dhriraashtrasya putraa sarvai sahaivaavanipaalasanghaihi Bheeshmo droṇaḥ sootaputrastathaa'sau sahaasmadeeyairapi yodhamukhyaihi 11.26

Content: ami: all those; ca: also; tvam: You; dhrtarastrasya: of Dhritarashtra; putrah: sons; sarve: all; saha eva: along with; avani-pala-sanghaihi: the assembly of kings; Bhishma: Bhishma; Drona: Drona; sutaputra: Karna; stha: as well as; asau: that; saha: along with; asmadiyairapi: our own; yodha-mukhyaihi: chief warriors

Content: avani-pala: warriour kings; sanghaih: the groups; bhismah: Bhismadeva; dronah: Dronacarya; suta-putrah: Karna; tatha: also; asau: that; saha: with; asmdiyaih: our; api: also; yodha-mukhyaih: chief among the warriors;

Content: 11.26 All the sons of Dhritharashtra with many kings of the earth, Bhishma, Drona, the son of the charioteer, Karna, with our warrior chieftains.

Content: वक्त्राणि ते त्वरमाणा विशन्ति दंष्ट्राकरालानि भयानकानि । केचिद्विलग्ना दशनान्तरेषु संदृश्यन्ते चूर्णितैरुत्तमाड्गैः ॥ ११.२७ ॥

Content: Vaktrani te tvaramanaa vishanti damshtraakaralani bhayanakani Kechidvilagnaa dashanaantareshu sandrishyante choornithyruttamangaihi 11.27

Content: vaktrani: mouths; te: Your; tvaramanah: fearful; visanti: entering; damstra: teeth; karalani: terrible; bhayanakani: very fearful; kecit: some of them; vilagnah: being attacked; dasana-antaresu: between the teeth; sandrsyante: found; curnitaih: crushed; uttama-angaih: by the head.

Content: 11.27 Into Your mouths with terrible tusks, fearful to behold, they enter. Some are seen caught in the gaps between the tusks and their heads crushed.

Content: यथा नदीनां बहवोडम्बुवेगा: समुद्रमेवाभिमुखा: द्रवन्ति । तथा तवामी नरलोकवीरा विशन्ति वक्त्राण्यभिविज्वलन्ति ॥ ११.२८ ॥

Content: yathaa nadeenaam bahavODambuvegaah samudramevaabhimukhaah dravanti tathaa tavamee naralokaveeraa vishanti vaktranYabhi vijvalanti 11.28

Content: Yatha nadinaam bahavombuvegaha amudramevaabhimukhaah dravanti Thattha thavaami naralokaveera Vishanti vaktranyabhivijvalanthi 11.28

Content: yatha: as; nadinaam: of the rivers; bahavah: many; ambu-vegah: waves of the waters; samudram: ocean; eva: certainly; abhimukhaah: towards; dravanti: gliding; tatha: similarly; tava: Your; ami: all those; naraloka-virah: the human kings; visanti: entering; vaktrani: into the mouths; abhivijvalanti: blazing.

Content: 11.28 Even as many torrents of rivers flow towards the ocean, so too these warriors in the world of men enter Your flaming mouths.

Content: यथा प्रदीप्तं ज्वलनं पतङ्गा विशन्ति नाशाय समृद्धवेगाः। तथैव नाशाय विशन्ति लोकास्तवापि वक्त्राणि समृद्धवेगाः ॥ ११.२९ ॥

Content: Yatha pradeeptam jwalanam patangaa vishaanti naashaaya amruddhavegaah Tathaiva naashaaya vishaanti loka sthavaapi vaktraani samruddhavegaah 11.29

Content: yatha: as; pradeeptam: blazing; jvalanam: fire; patangah: moths; visanti: enters; nasaya: destruction; samrddha: full; vegah: speed; tatha eva: similarly; nasaya: for destruction; visanti: entering; lokah: all people; tava: unto You; api: also; vaktrani: in the mouths; samrddha-vegah: with full speed.

Content: 204

Content: लेलिह्यसे ग्रसमानः समन्ताल्लोकान्समग्रान्वदनैर्ज्वलद्भिः। तेजोभिरापूर्य जगत्समग्रं भासस्तवोग्राः प्रतपन्ति विष्णो ॥११.३०॥

Content: Lelihyase grasamaananah samantaallokaansamagraanvadanairjwaladbhiḥ Tejobhiraapoorya jagatsamagram bhaasastavograaḥ paratapanti vishno 11.30

Content: lelihyase: licking; grasamanah: devouring; samantat: from all directions; lokan: people; samagran: completely; vadanaih: by the mouth; jvaladbhiḥ: with blazing; tejobhiḥ: by effulgence; apurya: covering; jagat: the universe; samagram: all; bhasah: illuminating; tava: Your; ugraḥ: terrible; pratapanti: scorching; visno: O all pervading Lord.

Content: 11.30 Swallowing all worlds on every side with your flaming mouths You lick in enjoyment. O Vishnu, Your fierce rays are burning, filling the whole world with radiance.

Content: आख्याहि मे को भवानुग्ररूपो नमोऽस्तु ते देववर प्रसीद। विज्ञातुमिच्छामि भवन्तमाद्यं न हि प्रजानामि तव प्रवृत्तिम् ॥११.३१॥

Content: Aakhyaahi me ko bhavaanugraroopo namoʼstu te devavara praseeda Vijnyatumichchaami bhavantamaadhyam na hi prajaanaami tava pravrittim 11.31

Content: akhyahi: please explain; me: unto me; kaḥ: who; bhavan: You; ugrarupaḥ: fierce form; namaḥ astu: obeisances; te: You;

Content: 205

Content: unto You; deva-vara: the great one amongst the gods; prasida: be gracious; vijnatum: just to know; icchami: I wish; bhavantam: You; adyam: the original; na: never; hi: certainly; prajanami: do I know; tava: Your; pravrttim: purpose

Content: 11.31 Tell me who You are, so fierce in form; salutations to You, O Supreme; have mercy.

Content: Indeed I know not Your purpose but I desire to know You, the Original Being.

Content: श्री भगवानुवाच

Content: कालोऽस्मि लोकक्षयकृतप्रवृद्धो लोकान्समाहर्तुमिह प्रवृत्तः ।

Content: ऋतेऽपि त्वां न भविष्यन्ति सर्वे येऽवस्थिताः प्रत्यनीकेषु योधाः ॥१११.३२॥

Content: Sri Bhagavan uvaacha:

Content: Kaalosmi lokakshayakrutpravruddho lokaansamaahartumiha pravrttah

Content: Ritepi twam na bhavishyanti sarve yevasthitaah pratyaaneekeshu yodhaah 11.32

Content: sri-bhagavan uvaca : Krishna said; kalah: time; asmi: I am; loka: the worlds; ksaya-krt: destroyer; pravrddhah: to engage; lokan: all people; samahartum: to destroy; iha: in this world; pravrttah: to engage; rte api: without even; tvam: you; na: never; bhavisyanti: will be; sarve: all; ye: who; avasthitah: situated; pratianikesu: on the opposite side; yodhah: the soldiers.

Content: 206

Content: 11.32 Sri Bhagavan said: I am the mighty world-destroying Time, I am now destroying the worlds. Even without you, none of the warriors standing in the hostile armies shall live.

Content: तस्मात्त्वमुतिष्ठ यशो लभस्व जित्वा शत्रून् भुङ्क्ष्व राज्यं समृद्धम्‌। मयैवैते निहताः पूर्वमेव निमित्तमात्रं भव सव्यसाचिन्‌॥११.३३॥

Content: Tasmaatwamutthishta yasho labhaswa jitwaa shatroon bhunkshva rajyam samruddham Mayaivaite nihataah poorvameva nimittamaatram bhava savyasaachin 11.33

Content: tasmāt: therefore; tvam: you; uttisṭha: get up; yaśah: fame; labhasva: gain; jitvā: conquering; satrūn: enemies; bhuṅkṣva: enjoy; rajyam: kingdom; samrddham: flourishing; mayā: by Me; eva: certainly; ete: all these; nihatāḥ: already killed; purvam eva: by previous arrangement; nimitta-mātram: just the cause; bhava: become; savya-sacin: O Arjuna.

Content: 11.33 Get up and gain glory. Conquer the enemies and enjoy the prosperous kingdom.

Content: I have slain all these warriors; you are a mere instrument, Arjuna

Content: द्रोणं च भीष्मं च जयद्रथं च कर्ण तथाड्‌न्यानपि योधवीरान्‌। मया हतांस्त्वं जहि मा व्यथिष्ठा युद्ध्यस्व जेतासि रणे सपत्नान्‌॥११.३४॥

Content: Dronam cha bheeshmam cha jayadratham cha karnam tathanyaanapi yodhaveeraan Mayaa hataamstwam jahi maa vyathishtaa yudhyaswa jethaasi rane sapatnaan 11.34

Content: dronam ca: also Drona; bhismam ca: also Bhisma; jayadratham ca: also Jayadratha; karnam: also Karna; tatha: also; anyan: others; api: certainly; yodha-viran: great warriors; maya: by Me; hatan: already killed; tvam: you; jahi: become victorious; ma: never; vyathisthah; be disturbed; yudhyasva: just fight; jeta asi: just conquer; rane: in the fight; sapatnan: enemies.

Content: 11.34 Drona, Bheeshma, Jayadratha, Karna and other brave warriors have already been slain by Me; destroy them. Do not be be afraid; fight and you shall conquer your enemies in battle.

Content: सज्जय उवाच

Content: एतच्छ्रुत्वा वचनं केशवस्य कृताञ्जलिर्वैपमानः किरीटी। नमस्कृत्वा भूय एवाह कृष्णं सगद्गदं भीतभीतः प्रणम्य॥१११.३५॥

Content: Sanjaya uvaacha:

Content: Etachhrutwa vachanam keshavasya krutaajnalirvepamaanaah kireeti Namaskrutwa bhooya vaah krishnam sagadgadam bheetabheetah pranamya 11.35

Content: sanjayah uvaca: Sanjaya said; etat: thus; srutva: hearing; vacanam: speech; kesavasya: of Krishna; krta-anjalih: with folded hands; vepamanah: trembling; kiriti: Arjuna; namaskrtva: offering obeisances; bhuyah: again; eva: also; aha krishnam: said unto Krishna; sa-gadgadam: faltering; bhita-bhitah: fearful; pranamya: offering obeisances.

Content: 11.35 Sanjaya said: Having heard this speech of Kesava, the crowned Arjuna with joined palms, trembling, prostrating himself, Again addressed Krishna, voice choking, bowing down, overwhelmed with fear.

Content: अर्जुन उवाच

Content: स्थाने हषीकेश तव प्रकीर्त्या जगत् प्रहष्यत्यनुरज्यते च।

Content: रक्षांसि भीतानि दिशो द्रवन्ति सर्वे नमस्यन्ति च सिद्धसङ्घाः॥११.३६॥

Content: Arjuna uvaacha

Content: Sthaane hrishikesha tava prakeertya jagat prahyasyatyanujyate cha Rakshaamsi bheetaani disho dravanti sarve namasyanti cha siddhasanghaaha 11.36

Content: arjunaḥ uvaca: Arjuna said; sthane: rightly; hrsika-isa: O master of all senses; tava: Your; prakirtya: glories; jagat: the entire world; prahrsyati: rejoicing; anurajyate: becoming attached; ca: and; raksamsi: the demons; bhitani: out of fear; disah: directions; dravanti: fleeing; sarve: all; namasyanti: offering respect; ca: also; siddha-sanghah: the perfect human beings.

Content: 11.36 Arjuna said: O Hrishikesa, it is but right that the world delights and rejoices in Your praise. Rakshasa fly in fear in all directions and all hosts of sages bow to You.

Content: कस्माच्च ते न नमेरन्महात्मन् गरीयसे ब्रह्मणोऽप्यादिकर्त्रे।

Content: अनन्त देवेश जगन्निवास त्वमक्षरं सदसत्तत्परं यत्॥ ११.३७ ॥

Content: Kasmaachha te na nameranmahaatman gareeyase brahmanopyaadikartre

Content: Ananta devesha jagannivaasa twamaksharam sadasatattparam yat 11.37

Content: kasmat: why; ca: also; te: unto You; na: not; nameran: offer proper obeisances; maha-atman: O great one; gariyase: You are better than; brahmanah: Brahma; api: although; adi-kartre: the supreme creator; ananta: unlimited; deva-isa: God of the gods; jagat-nivasa: O refuge of the universe; tvam: You are; aksaram: imperishable; sat-asat: cause and effect; tat param: transcendental; yat: because.

Content: 11.37 And why should they not bow to Thee, O Great Soul, greater than all else, the Creator of even Brahma the Creator. O Lord of Lords, O Infinite Being, O Abode of the Universe,

Content: You are the imperishable, that which is beyond both seen and the unseen.

Content: त्वमादिदेवः पुरुषः पुराणस्त्वमस्य विश्वस्य परं निधानम्‌। वेत्यासी वेद्यं च परं च धाम त्वया ततं विश्वमनन्तरूप ॥ ११.३८ ॥ Twamaadidevaha purushah puraanastwamasy a vishwasna param nidhanam Vettaasi vedyam cha param cha dhaama tvayaa tatam vishwamanantaroopa 11.38 tvam: You; adi-devah: the original Supreme God; purusah: personality; puranah: old; tvam: You; asya: this; visvasya: universe; param: transcendental; nidhanam: refuge; vetta: knower; asi: You are; vedyam ca: and the knowable; param ca: and transcendental; dhama: refuge; tvaya: by You; tatam: pervaded; visvam: universe; ananta-rupa: unlimited form. 11.38 You are the primal God, the ancient Being, the Supreme Refuge of the universe. You are the knower and the One to be known. You are the Supreme Abode. O Being of Infinite forms, by You alone is the universe pervaded.

Content: वायुर्यमोऽग्निर्वरुणः शशाङ्कः प्रजापतिस्त्वं प्रपितामहश्च । नमो नमस्तेऽस्तु सहस्रकृत्वः पुनश्च भूयोऽपि नमो नमस्ते ॥ ११.३९ ॥ Vaayuryamognirvarunaha shashaankaha prajaapatistwam prapitaamahascha Namo namastestu sahastrakritwaha punascha bhooyopi namo namaste 11.39 vayuh: air; yamah: controller; agnih: fire; varunah: water; sasa-ankah: moon; prajapatih: Brahma; tvam: You; prapitamahah: grandfather; ca: also; namah: offering 11.39 You are air, Yama, Agni, Varuna, moon, Brahma and the grandfather of all. Salutations to You, a thousand times, again and again.

Content: 211

Content: respects; namah te: again my respects unto You; astu: are being; sahasra-krtvah: a thousand times; punah ca: and again; bhuyah: again; api: also; namah: offer my respects; namah te - offering my respects unto You.

Content: 11.39 You are Vayu, Yama, Agni, Varuna, the moon, Prajapati and the great-grandfather of all.

Content: Salutations unto You a thousand times and again, salutations unto You!

Content: नमः पुरस्तादथ पृष्ठतस्ते नमोऽस्तु ते सर्वत एव सर्व।

Content: अनन्तवीर्यामितविक्रमस्त्वं सर्व समाप्नोषि ततोऽसि सर्वः।।११.४०।।

Content: Namah purastaadatha prushtataste namostu te sarvata eva sarva Anantaveeryaamitavikramastvam sarvam samaapnoshi tatotos i sarvah 11.40

Content: namah: offering obeisances; purastat: from the front; atha: also; prsthatah: from behind; te: You; namah astu: offer my respects; te: unto You; sarvatah: from all sides; eva sarva: because You are everything; ananta-virya: unlimited potency; amita-vikramah: unlimited force; tvam: You; sarvam: everything; samaapnosi: cover; tatah asi: therefore You are; sarvah: everything.

Content: 11.40 Salutations to You, before and behind! Salutations to You on every side! O All! Infinite in power and Infinite in prowess, You are everything and everywhere.

Content: सखेति मत्वा प्रसभं यदुक्तं हे कृष्ण हे यादव हे सखेति।

Content: अजानता महिमानं तवेदं मया प्रमादात्प्रणयेन वापि।।११.४१।।

Content: 212

Content: Sakheti matwa prasambham yaduktam he Krishna he yadava he sakheti Ajaanata mahimaanam tavedam mayaa pramadaatpranayena vaapi 11.41

Content: sakha: friend; iti: thus; matva: thinking; prasabham: temporary; yat: whatever; uktam: said; he krishna: O Krishna; he yadava: O Yadava; he sakhe iti: O my dear friend; ajanata: without knowing; mahimanam: glories; tava: Your; idam: this; maya: by me; pramadat: out of foolishness; pranayena: out of love; va api: either;

Content: 11.41 Whatever I have rashly said from carelessness or love, addressing You as Krishna, Yadava, my Friend Regarding You merely as a friend, unaware of this greatness of Yours.

Content: यच्चावहासार्थमसत्कृतोऽसि विहारशय्यासनभोजनेषु । एकोऽथवाप्यच्युत तत्समक्षं तत्क्षामये त्वामहमप्रेमेयम् ।। ११.४२ ।।

Content: Yachhavahaasarthamasatkritosi vihaarashayyaasanabhojaneshu Ekothavaapyachyuta tatsamaksham tatkshaamaye twaamahamaprameyam 11.42

Content: yat: whatever; ca: also; avahasa-artham: for joking; asat-krtah: dishonor; asi: have been done; vihara: in relaxation; sayya: in joking; asana: in a resting place; bhojanesu: or while eating together; ekah: alone; atha va: or; api: others; acyuta: O infallible one; tat-samaksam: as Your competitor; tat: all those; ksamaye: excuse; tvam: from You; aham: I; aprameyam: immeasurable.

Content: 213

Content: 11.42 In whatever way I may have insulted You in fun, while at play, resting, sitting or at meals, When alone with You or in company, O Achuta, O immeasurable One, I implore You to forgive me.

Content: पितासि लोकस्य चराचरस्य त्वमस्य पूज्यश्च गुरुर्गरीयान्।

Content: न त्वत्समोऽस्त्यभ्यधिकः कुतोऽन्यो लोकत्रयेऽप्यप्रतिमप्रभाव ॥ ११.४३ ॥

Content: Pitaasi lokasya charaacharasy a tamasya poojyashcha gururgareeyan

Content: Na twatsamostyabhadhikaha kutonyo lokatrayepyapratimaprabhaava 11.43

Content: pita: father; asi: You are; lokasya: of all the world; cara: moving; acarasy a: nonmoving; tvam: You are; asya: of this; pujyah: worshipable; ca: also; guruh: master; gariyan: glorious; na: never; tvat-samah: equal to You; asti: there is; abhyadhikah: greater; kutah: how is it possible; anyah: other; loka-traye: in three planetary systems; api: also; apratima: immeasurable; prabhava: power.

Content: 11.43 You are the Father of this world, moving and unmoving. You are to be adored by this world. You are the greatest Guru; there is none who exists equal to You. O Being of unequalled power, how then can there be another, superior to You in the three worlds?

Content: तस्मात्प्रणम्य प्रणिधाय कायं प्रसादये त्वामहमीड्यम्‌। पितेव पुत्रस्य सखेव सख्यु: प्रिय: प्रियायार्हसि देव सोढुम्‌॥ ११.४४ ॥

Content: Tasmaatpranamya pranidhaaya kaayam prasaadaye tvamahameedyam twamahamishameedyam

Content: Piteva putrasya sakheya sakhyuhu priyaah priyaayaarhasideva sodum 11.44

Content: tasmat: therefore; pranamya: after offering obeisances; pranidhaya: laying down; kaayam: body; prasadaye: to beg mercy; tvam: unto You; aham: I; isam: unto the Supreme Lord; idyam: who is worshipable; pita iva: like a father; putrasya: of a son; sakha iva: like a friend; sakhyuh: of a friend; priyah: lover; priyayah: of the dearmost; arhasi: You should; deva: my Lord; sodhum: tolerate.

Content: 11.44 Therefore, bowing down, I prostrate my body before You and crave Your forgiveness, adorable Lord. Even as a father forgives his son, a friend his friend, a lover his beloved, You should, O Deva, forgive me.

Content: अदृष्टपूर्व हृषितोऽस्मि दृष्ट्वा भयेन च प्रव्यथितं मनो मे। तदेव मे दर्शय देव रूपं प्रसीद देवेश जगन्निवास ॥ ११.४५ ॥

Content: adrshtapurvam hrshito smi drshtwa bhayena cha pravyathitam mano me

Content: tadeva me darshaya deva rupam praeeda devesha jagannivasa 11.45

Content: adrsta-purvam: never seen before; hrsitah: gladdened; asmi: I am; drstva: by seeing; bhayena: out of fear; ca: also;

Content: 215

Content: pravyathitam: perturbed; manah: mind; me: my; tat: therefore; eva: certainly; me: unto me; darsaya: show; deva: O Lord; rupam: the form; prasida: just be gracious; deva-isa: O Lord of lords; jagat-nivasa: the refuge of the universe.

Content: 11.45 After seeing this form that I have never seen before, I am filled with gladness but at the same time I am disturbed by fear.

Content: Please bestow Your grace upon me and show me Your form as the Supreme Personality, O Lord of Lords, O refuge of the Universe.

Content: किरीटिनं गदिनं चक्रहस्तमिच्छामि त्वां द्रष्टुमहं तथैव। तेनैव रूपेण चतुर्भुजेन सहस्रबाहो भव विश्वमूर्ते ॥११.४६॥

Content: kireetinam gadinam chakrahastamicchami tvam drastumaham tathaiva thenaiva rupena chaturbhujena sahasrabaho bhava vishwamurte

Content: 11.46

Content: kiritinam: with helmet; gadinam: with club; cakra-hastam: disc in hand; icchami: I wish; tvam: You; drastum: to see; aham: I; tatha eva: in that position; tena eva: by that; rupena: with form; catuh-bhujena: four-handed; sahasra-baho: O thousand-handed one; bhava: just become; visva-murte: O universal form.

Content: 11.46 O thousand armed Universal Form! I wish to see Your form with crown, four- armed with mace, disc in Your hand.

Content: 216

Content: I yearn to see You in that form.

Content: श्री भगवानुवाच

Content: मया प्रसन्नेन तवार्जुनेदं रूपं परं दर्शितमात्मयोगात्। तेजोमयं विशवमनन्तमाद्यं यन्मे त्वदन्येन न दृष्टपूर्वम् ॥११.४७॥

Content: sri-bhagavan uvaca: sri bhagavan said; maya: by Me; prasannena: happily; tava: unto you; arjuna: O Arjuna; idam: this; rupam: form; param: transcendental; darshitam: shown; atma-yogat: by My internal power; tejah-mayam: full of effulgence; vishvam: the entire universe; anantam: unlimited; adyam: original; yat me: that which is Mine; tvat anyena: besides you; na drsta-purvam: no one has previously seen.

Content: 11.47 Bhagavan said: Dear Arjuna, I happily show you this transcendental form within the material world of My internal power.

Content: No one before you has seen this unlimited, brilliant form

Content: न वेदयज्ञाध्ययनैर्न दानैर्न च क्रियाभिर्न तपोभिरुग्रैः। एवं रूपः शक्य अहं नृलोके द्रष्टुं त्वदन्येन कुरुप्रवीर ॥११.४८॥

Content: na vedayajñadhyayanairna danairna cha kriyabhirna tapobhirugraih evamrupah sakya aham nru-loke drashtum tvadnyena kurupravira 11.48

Content: na: never; veda: Vedic study; yajna: sacrifice; adhyayanaih: study; na danaih: by charity; na: never; ca: also; kriyabhilh: by pious activities; na tapobhilh: by serious penances; ugraih: severe; evam: thus; rupah: form; sakyah: can be seen; aham: I; nr-loke: in this material world; drastum: to see; tvat: you; anyena: by another; kurupravira: O best among the Kuru warriors.

Content: 11.48 O best among Kuru warriors, no one had ever before seen this Universal form of mine, for neither by studying the Vedas nor by performing sacrifices or charities, can this form be seen.

Content: Only you have seen this form.

Content: मा ते व्यथा मा च विमूढभावो दृष्ट्वा रूपं घोरमीडृङ्ममेदम्। व्यपेतभीः प्रीतमनाः पुनस्त्वं तदेव मे रूपमिदं प्रपश्य ॥११.४९॥

Content: ma te vyatha ma cha vimudhabhaavo drshtva rupam ghoramidrn mamedam vyapetabhilh pritamanah punastvam tadeva me rupamidam prapasya 11.49

Content: ma: let it not be; te: unto you; vyatha: trouble; ma: let it not be; ca: also; vimudha-bhavah: bewilderment; drshtva: by seeing; rupam: form; ghoram: horrible; idrk: like this; mama: My; idam: as it is; vyapetabhilh: just become free from all fear; pritamanah: with a delighted mind; punastvam: again; tadeva: that very; me: My; rupam: form; idam: this; prapasya: properly see.

Content: fear; prita-manah: be pleased in mind;punah: again; tvam: you; tat: that; eva: thus; me: My; rupam: form; idam: this; prapasya: just see.

Content: 11.49 Do not be disturbed any longer by seeing this terrible form of Mine.

Content: Dear devotee, be free from all disturbances. With a peaceful mind, you can now see the form you wish to see.

Content: सज्जय उवाच

Content: इत्यर्जुनं वासुदेवस्तथोक्त्वा स्वकं रूपं दर्शयामास भूयः।

Content: आश्वासयामास च भीतमेनं भुत्वा पुनः सौम्यवपुर्महात्मा॥११.५०॥

Content: sanjaya uvaca

Content: ityarjunam vasudevastathoktva svakam rupam darshayamasa bhuyah

Content: ashvasayamasa cha bhitamenam bhutva punah saumyavapurmahatma 11.50

Content: sanjayah uvaca: Sanjaya said; iti: thus; arjunam: unto Arjuna; vasudevah: Krishna; tatha: that way; uktva: saying; svakam: His own; rupam: form; darsayam asa: showed; bhuyah: again; asvasayam asa: also convinced him; ca: also; bhitam: fearful; enam: him; bhutva punah: becoming again; saumya-vapuh: beautiful form; maha-atma: the great one.

Content: 11.50 Sanjaya said: Krishna, while speaking to Arjuna, revealed His form with four arms, Then assuming His

Content: अर्जुन उवाच दृष्ट्वेदं मानुषं रूपं तव सौम्यं जनार्दन। इदानोमस्मि संवृत्तः सचेताः प्रकृतिं गतः॥११.५१॥

Content: arjuna uvaca: Arjuna said; drstva: seeing; idam: this; manusam: human being; rupam: form; tava: Your; saumyam: very beautiful; janardana: O chastiser of the enemies; idanim: just now; asmi: I am; samvrttah: settled; sa-cetah: in my consciousness; prakrtim: my own; gata: I am.

Content: 11.51 Arjuna said: Seeing this wonderful human form, My mind is now calm and I am restored to my original nature.

Content: श्री भगवानुवाच सुदुर्दर्शमिदं रूपं दृष्ट्वानसि यन्मम। देवा अप्यस्य रूपस्य नित्यं दर्शनकाङ्क्षिणः॥११.५२॥

Content: sudurdarsamidam rupam dhrustavanasi yanmama deva apyasya rupasya nityam darshanakanksinah 11.52

Content: sri-bhagavan uvaca: Krishna said; sudurdarsam: very difficult to be seen; idam: this; rupam: form; drstavanasi: as you have seen; yat: which; mama: of Mine; devah: the celestials; api: also this; rupasya: form; nityam: eternally; darsanakanksinah: always aspire to see.

Content: 11.52 Bhagavan said: The four-armed form that you have seen is rare to behold.

Content: Even the celestials are forever aspiring to see this form.

Content: नाहं वेदैर्न तपसा न दानेन न चेज्यया। शक्य एवंविधो द्रष्टुं दृष्टवांसि मां यथा ॥१९.४३॥

Content: naham vedairna tapasa na danena na chejyaya shakya evamvidho drastum drushtavanasi mam yatha 11.53

Content: na: never; aham: I; vedaih: by study of the Vedas; na: never; tapasa: by serious penances; na: never; danena: by charity; na: never; ca: also; ijyaya: by worship; sakyah: it is possible; evam-vidha: like this; drastum: to see; drstavan: seeing; asi: you are; mam: Me; yatha: as.

Content: 11.53 The four armed form which you have seen with your transcendental eyes cannot be understood simply by study of the Vedas, nor by undergoing penances or charity or worship; One cannot see Me as I am by these means.

Content: भक्त्या त्वनन्यया शक्य अहमेवंविधोऽर्जुन। ज्ञातुं द्रष्टुं च तत्वेन प्रवेष्टुं च परंतप ॥१९.४८॥

Content: bhaktya tvananyyaa shakya aham evamvidho arjuna jñatam drustum ca tattvena pravestum ca parantapa

Content: Bhakt ya tvananyaya sakya aham evamvidhorjuna jnatum drashtum cha tattvena praveshtum ca parantapa 11.54

Content: bhaktya: by devotional service; tu: but; ananyaya: without being mixed with fruitive activities or speculative knowledge; sakyah: possible; aham: I; evam-vidhah: like this; arjuna: O Arjuna; jnatum: to know; drashtum: to see; ca: and; tattvena: in fact; pravestum: and to enter into; ca: also; parantapa: O mighty-armed one.

Content: 11.54 My dear Arjuna, only by undivided devotional service can you understand Me as I am, standing before you, be seen directly.

Content: Only in this way can you reach Me.

Content: मत्कर्मकृत्मत्परमो मद्भक्तः सङ्गवर्जितः । निर्वैरः सर्वभूतेषु यः स मामेति पाण्डव ॥ ११.५५ ॥

Content: Matkarmakrunmatparamo madbhaktah sangavarjitah nirvairah sarvabhutesu yah sa mameti pandava 11.55

Content: mat-karma-krt: engaged in doing My work; mat-paramah: considering Me the Supreme; mat-bhaktah: engaged in My devotional service; sangavarjitah: freed from the contamination of previous activities and mental speculation; nirvairah: without an enemy; sarva-bhutesu: to every living entity yah: one who; sah: he; mam: unto Me; eti: comes; pandava: O son of Pandu

Content: 11.55 My dear Arjuna, one who is engaged entirely in My devotional service, full of love for every entity, surely comes to Me.

Content: 222

Content: BhagavadGita

Content: commentary by

Content: Nithyananda

Content: Krishna

Content: -the Cosmic Window

Content:

• chapter 11

Content: Can Universal Consciousness be experienced?

Content: What is the basic qualification for this experience?

Content: What happens when one experiences it?

Content: Nithyananda raises and answers these questions as he guides

Content: us through chapter 11 of the Bhagavad Gita, where Krishna

Content: reveals His Cosmic Form.

Content: When the disciple is ready, the experience happens. It is not

Content: something one studies and trains for. This gift that the Master

Content: bestows is born out of His pure compassion and the deep

Content: devotion and surrender of the disciple. The inner Self must

Content: become ready, just as Arjuna became over the course of these

Content: teachings from Krishna.

Content: Nithyananda reveals intimate experiences from His own

Content: personal life to reiterate Arjuna’s experience, and explains

Content: how and why Krishna revealed Himself fully to Arjuna.

Content: Included in this chapter is the step-by-step meditation from

Content: Nithyananda to help us expand and experience the Universal

Content: Krishna Consciousness.

Content: Ebook ISBN: 979-8-88572-060-1

Content: PUBLISHED BY LIFE BLISS FOUNDATION