Sai Baba Gita - Foresight and Compassion - Qualities found in a Pure Heart

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Foresight and Compassion - Qualities found in a Pure Heart

You might wonder why the Gita was taught to Arjuna. Among the Pandavas, some of

the other brothers, such as the oldest one, Dharmaraja, who was the very pillar

of virtue, might be considered better qualified spiritually than Arjuna. Why was

the sacred Gita not taught to Dharmaraja who was known for his outstanding moral

strength? Or if you were to consider physical prowess, then Bhima, who was the

most powerful among the brothers, would surely have qualified for the

teachings. Krishna could have given the Gita to Bhima, but he did not. Why not?

Why did he give it only to Arjuna? You have to understand the inner significance

of this.

Dharmaraja was the embodiment of righteousness, but he did not have foresight.

He did not think about the future consequences of his actions. Only after

events had already occurred, did he think about their consequences and feel

sorry for what he had done. He had hindsight but not foresight. If you take

Bhima, he, of course, had great physical strength, but he did not have much

intelligence. He was able to uproot a tree, but he was lacking in

discrimination. Arjuna, on the other hand, had foresight. For example, Arjuna

told Krishna, "I would rather be dead than fight against these people. It will

mean so much suffering later on, even if we win the war."

In contrast to Arjuna's anguish about all the suffering that would be brought on

by this war, Dharmaraja was quite ready to get on with the battle, although

later he felt deeply depressed about all the killing when the war was over.

Years earlier, Dharmaraja had been pulled in to a royal game of dice, in which

he lost everything, including his wealth, his kingdom, and even his wife.

Afterwards, he was filled with great anguish and remorse. Whenever a person

without discrimination and foresight is called upon to make a decision while in

the midst of difficult circumstances, he invariably regrets his actions later

on. This was also the nature of King Dasaratha, who was the father of Rama, the

divine incarnation 5000 years earlier. King Dasaratha lacked foresight and

discrimination.

Early in his reign, Dasaratha had to fight a war to defend and preserve

righteousness. In this war he took his young queen, Kaikeyi, with him. Kaikeyi

had been a princess in a warrior kingdom and had been well schooled in the art

of warfare. It was Kaikeyi, in fact, who taught Rama archery and some of the

methods of waging war. When Dasaratha was fighting during the war, one of the

wheels of his chariot started coming off. Kaikeyi used her finger to keep the

wheel from separating itself from the axle. In so doing, she saved Dasaratha's

life, as well as her own.

After having achieved victory, King Dasaratha noticed that her hand was bleeding

profusely. Seeing her plight, he was so overwhelmed with infatuation and so

pleased with her courage and sacrifice that he told her, "Kaikeyi, you can ask

for two boons. Ask for anything that you wish, and I shall do all in my power

to grant them to you!" He granted the boons in gratitude for her heroic act in

saving their lives. But his infatuation with her blinded him to her

weak-mindedness. He did not specify what kind of boons she should ask for nor

when they should take effect. He blindly granted the promise of boons without

thinking of any of the possible consequences.

Kaikeyi waited until the time when Dasaratha decided to hand over the kingdom to

Rama. At that point, Kaikeyi asked for Rama to be banished to the forest, and

for her son, Bharatha, to be put on the throne instead. Then Dasaratha felt

desperately sorry for having granted the boons without any pre-conditions. But

it was too late to retract them, and the resulting grief brought on his death.

We know that Krishna had a great deal of affection for Arjuna, but is that the

reason he taught the Gita to Arjuna and not to one of the other brothers? No.

Krishna looked at all the consequences, all the implications, and found Arjuna

alone qualified to receive the Gita from him. Arjuna foresaw what was going to

happen after the war, and therefore declared that he did not want to fight,

because the consequences would be very bad. He was not feeling sorry after the

war was over, but before. That attitude of feeling sorry before taking action,

instead of afterwards, can only be found in a pure heart. Arjuna certainly had

such a pure and sacred heart and that is why Krishna was so fond of him.

http://www.atmapress.com/saibabagita/saigita149.html

Sai Baba Gita, Compiled and edited by Al Drucker - Published by Atma Press -

http://www.atmapress.com - ISBN: 0963844903Online Edition:

http://www.atmapress.com/saibabagita/index.html

 

 

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