Chapter 9 :: THE BHAGAVAD-GITA FOR CHILDREN

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EMAIL.. Om Shree Gneshaya

Namah!!! CHAPTER 9

mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">SUPREME KNOWLEDGE AND THE BIG MYSTERY Jai:

If God comes sometimes on earth, is He the same as we are, or is He different

from us? Grandma: This is a very good question, Jai. It has been

answered both ways. For example, look at my

10.0pt">chain and my ring and this gold coin. They are all made of gold, so you

can see them as gold. And you can see everything else made of gold as gold.

They are different forms of gold. But you can also think of them as separate

things --- a chain, a ring, or a coin. The chain, the ring, and the coin are

nothing but different shapes and forms of gold. In the same way, we can look at

the Lord and all creation as nothing

but an expansion of the Lord Himself, as all Lord Himself. This viewpoint is

known as non-dualistic (not two, but One and the same) or Adi Sankara’s Advaita

philosophy. The other viewpoint sees God as one reality and

creation as a different reality but dependent on God. When gold and the objects

made of gold such as a

Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">chain and a ring and a coin are considered

different, this viewpoint or philosophy is called Dvaita or dualistic

philosophy (Gita 9.04-06). Jai: Is that what people mean when they say

God is everywhere and in everything? Grandma: Yes, Jai, God is the

Sun, the Moon, and the wind; fire, trees, earth and stones, in the same way

that everything made of gold is gold. That’s why Hindus see and worship God in

the stone and the tree as if these are God Himself in that form. Jai:

If everything comes from the Lord, then will everything become the Lord again,

like everything made of gold can be melted into just gold again? Grandma:

Yes, Jai, the cycle of creation and destruction keeps on going. It’s like

turning my chain and ring and coin into gold again and then using the gold to

make new jewelry and coins. (Gita 9.07-08) The entire creation appears and

disappears again and again.

justify; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in

5.5in 6.0in"> Jai: If Lord is us, and we all come from the Lord, then

why doesn’t everyone love and worship Lord?

3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in">Grandma: Those who

understand this truth do just that. They know the Lord is our Lord, and we are

from Him, for Him, of Him, and depend on Him, so they love and worship Him. But

the unwise do not understand or believe in God.

11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">Jai: If

I pray to God everyday and love Him and offer Him flowers or fruit, will He be

pleased and help me in my studies? Grandma:

1"> Lord Krishna said in the Gita that he takes care of all the needs

of His devotees who worship Him with strong faith and loving devotion. (Gita

9.22)

10.0pt">Jai: Does that mean that God loves only those who pray and worship

Him? Grandma: God loves all of us the same, but if we remember Him

and pray to Him, we come closer to God.

So we all should think of God, worship Him, meditate, and bow down to Him with

faith, love, and devotion. Jai: I would like to be close to the Lord

Krishna, Grandma. How can I have more faith in

Him and love Him more? Grandma: Just think of all the nice things God

does for us. He gives us so many different foods we enjoy. He gave us the Sun

for heat and light. Look at the beautiful sky with the Moon, the stars and

clouds in the night. This is all His beautiful creation, so think how beautiful

the creator Himself must be! Worshiping God is saying thank you for His

kindness. Praying is asking for what we need from God. Meditating is connecting

with the Supreme power to get help and guidance. So you should daily

worship, pray and meditate on God. Jai: If there is only one

God who gives us everything, why do you have so many deities in your prayer

(Pooj|

mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">) room, Grandma? Why don’t you just worship the one

Lord Krishna? Grandma: Lord Krishna

FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"> said: Those who

worship other deities, also worship Me through those deities. (Gita 9.23) We

can worship any deity we feel close to. That favorite deity is called IshtaDev,

our own personal god who becomes our personal guide and protector. Jai:

Why do we offer fruits and flowers to God? He does not need

them. Grandma: Lord Krishna

said in the Gita that anyone who offers Him a leaf, a flower, a fruit, water, or

anything with love and devotion, He not only accepts it, but eats the offerings!

(Gita 9.26) That’s why we always offer our food to God with a prayer before we

eat it. Food offered to God is called Prasada or Prasadam. Anybody

can rea

10.0pt">ch God who worships Him with faith, love and devotion. This is the path

of devotion and is open to all of us. Here is a story about the power of faith:

9. A Boy Who Fed God

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6.0in" align="center"> A man used to worship his family’s deity everyday with

food offerings. One day he had to go out of his village for the day. He said to

his son, Raman: Give the offering to the deity today. See that God is fed.

The boy offered food to the deity in the shrine, but the image would

neither eat nor drink nor talk. Raman waited a long time, but still the image

did not move. But he totally believed that God would come down from His throne

in heaven, sit on the floor and eat. Again and again he prayed to

the deity, saying: “O Lord, please come down and eat the food. It is already

very late. Father will get angry if I did not feed you.” The deity did not say

a word.

18pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in

4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in"> The boy wept and cried: “O Lord, my

father asked me to feed you. Why won’t you come down? Why won’t you eat from my

hands?” The boy wept for some time with a longing soul. At last the deity came

down smilingly from the altar in human form and sat before the meal and ate it.

After feeding the deity, the boy came out of the prayer room. His relatives

said: “The worship is over. Now bring the Prasa

'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">dam for us.” The boy said: “God

has eaten everything, He did not leave anything for you today.” They entered

the prayer room and were speechless with wonder to see that the deity had

really eaten every bit of the offering.

FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"> The moral of the

story is that God does eat if you offer food with full faith, love, and

devotion. Most of us don’t have the faith Raman had. We don’t know how to feed

Him! It is said that we must have faith in God like a child or we shall not

enter the supreme abode, the house of God.

2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in">Jai: Grandma, what if a

person is a sinful thief or robber. Can that person also love God? Grandma:

Yes, Jai, there is a story about su

black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">ch a robber.

10. The Great Highway

FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">Robber Sage We

have two very popular epics or historical tales. The first one is the Holy

Ramayan. The other one is Maha

10.0pt">bharata. The Bhagavad-Gita is a part of the Mahabharata. It was written

about 3,100 years B.C.E. Originally, the Holy Ramayan may have been written

about over a million years ago, according to latest findings of NASA. The

original writer of Ramayan was a sage named Va

FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">lmiki. After Valmiki

many other saints have written Ramayan, the story of Lord Rama that all children

should read. The legend is that Valmiki was given the power by sage Na

'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">rada to write the entire episode

before the event actually happened. In the early part of his life,

Valmiki was a great highway robber. He made a living by robbing travelers. One

day, the great celestial saint Narada was passing by when Valmiki attacked him

and tried to rob him.

Narada asked Valmiki why he was doing that. Valmiki said that this is how he

supported his family. The sage told Valmiki: When you rob a

person, you commit sin. Do your family members want to share that sin also?

The robber replied: Why not? I am sure they do. The

sage said: All right, go home and ask everyone if they will share your sins

along with the money you are bringing home.

..5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in">

The robber agreed. He tied the sage against a tree and went home and asked

each member of his family, saying: I bring you money and plenty of food by

robbing people. A sage told me that it is sinful to rob people. Will you share

my sins?

10.0pt"> No one in his family was willing to share his sin. They all

said: It is your duty to support us. We can’t share your sin.

Valmiki realized his mistakes and asked the sage what to do to atone for his

sins. The sage gave Valmiki the most powerful and the simplest “Ra

'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">ma” mantra to chant and taught

him how to worship and meditate. The highway robber gave up his sinful activity

and soon became a great sage and writer by the grace of guru Narada, the power

of mantra, and his sincere spiritual practice. Lord

Krishna has said in the Gita: If even the most sinful person decides to worship

Me with loving devotion, such a person must be regarded as a saint because he

or she has made the right decision. (Gita 9.30)

1"> Here is another story, Jai, that you should always remember.

11. The Footprints One night, a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking

along

the beach with the Lord. Across the sky he saw scenes from his life. For each

scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; one belonging to him, and

the other to the Lord.When the last scene of his life came before him, he looked

back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of

his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened

at the very lowest and saddest times in his

life.This really bothered him, and he questioned the Lord about it. “Lord, You

said that there is no one hateful or dear to You, but You are always with those

who worship You with love and devotion. (Gita 9.29) I have noticed that during

the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I

don’t understand why, when I needed You most, You would leave me alone.” The

Lord replied, “My dear ch

New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">ild, you are my own soul, My dear self.

I love you and I would never leave you, even if you leave Me sometimes. During

your time of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, that

was because then I carried you. When you have trouble, that is caused by your

own Karma. That is when you are tested and can grow stronger.” The

Lord Krishna

said in the Gita: I personally take care of both the spiritual and material

needs of devotees who always remember and love Me. (9.22) Chapter 9 summary:

The dualistic philosophy sees God as one reality and creation as a different

reality dependent on Him. Non-dual philosophy sees God and His creation as One.

God loves all of us the same, but He takes personal interest in His

devotees because such a person is closer to Him. It is like one gets more heat

if one sits close to the fire. There is no unforgivable sin or sinner. The fire

of sincere sorrow burns all sins."Gurur Brahma Gurur VishnuGurur Devoh

Maheshwar;Gurur Shakshat ParambramhaTashmai Shri Gurur Veh Namah"May the

Merciful Sri Sai Baba always shower His grace on us and our families and remove

our problems and anxieties by giving us all - strength , goodluck, success and

happiness with peace of mind.Sai bhakt,Deepa Hdebu7366