Gits slokas 12.9 to 12.12- some views

June 11, 2005

Sri.Balagopal has raised some pertinent questions on which opinions can differ.Actually he moves in the track of a pragmatic approach in raising the questions.I really appreciate the same.As I used to say always this is only my views which I give below as the same stemmed out of my mind and motivated by the One Formless Being.

I hv said in earlier mails that what Lord Krishna taught Arjuna can't be applied to the present day world of survival and subsistennce.At best we can hv some idea abt the teachings from the Gita.What is actually mind?why it works differently from person to person?who makes the same?For that if we ponder for a minute we will know that there is nothing this body machanism or motor system has anything to do with that.What we think comes from a deeper source which no scientist can find out.To feel is the way of mind and to decide is the way of intellect.And these are the inner subtle organs of man.A man's residence need not be reckoned basing on the locality where he has placed himself bodily.Man verily is where his mind is.For eg.if we think abt a place which we hv seen in a flash the same come to our mental screen and the speed of the mind is the greatest of all things.There are those who live in hell on earth and there are those who make a heaven of this earth.It is the mind of

man that makes the hell and heaven.When this mind is made over to God man is then verily in the Divine Presence.There is no doubt abt this.Man is born with two tendencies,Vidya guna and Avidya guna- the noble and base,dormant in him.The former leads him Godward and the latter makes him earth bound.In babyhood both the tendencies are in equilibrium,as is equally distributed in the two scales of a balance.If he grows in the life in the senses,the scale of worldliness goes down with that base weight.But if he emerges in spirtuality the scale in him of Godliness goes down towards Iswara with that holy weight.So the mind set up shuld be nourished and nurtured from the earlyhood and not after attaining certain age when the worldly things attracts.Hence the need to develop young children at the earlyhood of 4 or 5 years to inculcate the development of bhakthy in mind which when properly embedded will make him a great soul and the reverse process will make one attached to the mundane

matters.If that kind of set up is built in younger years as years roll by the young child which has developed a calm and cool mind dedicated in bhakthy can do any work without any attachment as the foundation is very strong and there won't be any wavering in his mind as he grows old and in whatever position he is placed he concentrates on that without bothering abt the accumulation of mundane things and keeps his mind firmly in absolute equanimity.Just becoz of this reason in olden days children were taught lessons abt God and all other gud things in life unlike the present day generation of younger ones who may be interested only in seeing cartoons in TVs,VCDs instead of tuning thir minds towards Godly things.I don't mean all the children shuld be like that.But if the parents bring them in a better way then their minds also will adopt the same.It is well nigh impossible to develop bhakthy after the children hv grown up as the foundation has not been properly laid up diverting them

from mundane things will be difficult as when the children grow up they see so many things and try to imitate them and the teachings of Krishna in Gita will not hv any effect.That is how the present day world goes.

However if the Godliness is inculcated in the mind of the children they become staunch devotees which does not deviate from the Lord whatever the avocations they may practice.There won't be any wavering mind which oscillates between God and the world.The impossible can thus be made possible thru constant practice until the mind is permanently reclaimed from baseness.A man was rearing a pet dog allowing it undue indulgence.One day when he was conversing with a learned visitor the dog,as its won't. jumped on to the lap of its master and licked his face."This is no good",observed the new comer.The remark produced a salutary effect on the man who decided then and there to train the dog properly.Thenceforth,he gave a knock every time the dog jumped up to lick his face.The sagacious animal was not slow to find out that the master did not approve of that act.It changed its habit accordingly.Similarly the unwanted desire is a wretched dog that man has fondly reared.It dominates over him

and depraves him woefully.Repeated blows in the form of counter thoughts and ideas are the only way to rectify it.

Of course force of habit is too strong to be altered or curbed.,it drags the man along its own way.Even such a bent can be turned to advantage.While the bent is allowed to hv its sway,it is utilised in the service of God.A talkataive man for eg.may go on talking of God instead of worldly things.An active man may work hard for the Glory of the Lord.When he becomes an instrument of the Lord in this way,no work taints him.His mind becomes purified gradually.Godhood is reached.When a man changes his attitudes he is freed from bondage.Whatever work a man things he is doing is actually the work of the Lord.But in ignorance he thinks he is doing everything by himself and for his and familys etc welfare.If such a thought is removed then he becomes a purified soul.The earth bound man is not prepared to abandon the fruits of his actions.Rather he wants to gather more and yet more fruits for his work.He must realise that the fruits of his karma will last long with him if he lived a life of

self control.More profit will accrue to him if he relied on God.He will learn in course that selfishness is more paying when based on selflessness.An effort at abandoning the fruits of action is to be instilled into the ordinary man gradually in this way.He will come to learn thru experience that supramundane life comes to self denial and not of self seeking.Nobody can sit idle without work.The inborn nature forces one to work.Therefore let the activities of the individual be carried on well.But if they were done without attachment ,they take him towards Godward.

Ritualistic religious practice is called abhyasa.Many a man does it mechanically without any feeling behind it.With him it is a social habit involuntarily picked up,falling in line with what others are doing.We can see people when they cross their places of worship whether temples,churches,mosques etc just put their hands folded,or making crosses but just as a routine.A conventionally pious man goes to the temple stands before the symbol of the Deity,pays homage with folded palms,turns round on all directions palms remaining folded as they are,prostrates before the Deity and goes home with the thought that he has discharged his duty to the Maker.He knows nothing of the principles underlying his actions.There is another man who is not given to this habitual formalism,but who knows theoretically that the cognition of the Divinity shuld commnence at the temple but that it shuld not end there.That adoration shuld permeate in all directions.This second man's act of

understanding the principle is better than the first man's ignorantly observing a formality.Such shuld be the attitude one has to follow to see God is all pervading and the thought that God is not within us but actually we are in God.This factor I hv dealt in an eatlier mail When a man gives a practical shape to his understanding by devotedly sharing with others whatever good things he has procured by his personla efforts just becoz of his renunciation he practices he stands foremost of among the sadhakas.He feels immense peace of mind and exuberance in sharing with others what he knows than in grabbing and jealously keeping things all to himself. He feels absolute tranquility becoz of his actions.

As said earlier we shuld never think that we are doing things by ourselves as we hv no control of events and must always feel whatever we do,whatever we suffer,enjoy,accumulate.lose the same is done by the Lord.Of course it is better said than done as everybody has got his/her ego which always triumph and all want to show their intellectual acumen to the best of their ability but we always forget what we get all these things from the One Source within which we move and do our things.If the mind adopts such an attitude then there is no confusion.Nama smarana is recommended for those who are on the beginning of spiritual journey.But it is impossible to do our duty and do nama smarana as the concentration on our works will be dissipated.So doing our duty consciously is itself shuld be taken as nama smarana as the formless God never bothers abt repetition of His name which only man thinks will please the Lord but the involvement of the devotee in his duty which is verily

His..If one has inculcated the divine thought in his mind and do his duty that alone is suffice.By simply saying some nama will lead us nowhere unless there is bhava,concentration,devotion.All such things can't be expected in the present age when the mind is concentrated on the particular work one is involved and the mind moves over the various problems one may have.But the mind must always attuned towards God and this is practicable by experience.Just like a servant while doing her duty of cleaning etc in the masters house and at the same time keeping an eye on her child she has which she brings to the work place by constantly keeping God in the mind while discharging all the duties of this mundane world the mind can be controlled to a great extent and an illumination comes in the mind which in course develops to a great extent making the aspirant towards his Ishta Devata.An aspirant shuld develop such an attitude in his spiritual journey as he can't run away from his mundane

activities and responsibilities and problems.So Nama smarana is only to install the form of the Lord in the mind firmly and not to please the Lord as He never bothers abt praises or abuses as both He accepts becoz of the fact that He is the positive and negative force,light and darkness,wisdom and ignorance,master and the servant-the Creator and Destroyer.At the same time the bestower and protector all roles combined.If that is clearly understood all the more good.

Hare Krishna

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