DESERVE THE MESSAGE

You are contemporaries of the Avathaar come to guard and guide; you have the capacity to catch the message and canalise it into action and activity. Make the utmost of this chance.

The Message can be grasped only by those who yearn to know the Duty, to which they have to be loyal. Or else, it will sound hollow and mechanical, like the prattle of a phonograph record. But if the heart is ploughed by that yearning and made ready for the seed, the harvest will certainly follow.

Arjuna was the brother-in-law of Krishna; he was a close companion and even a chum of the Lord, for many decades! Krishna, remember, was 84 years old, at the time of the Kurukshethra battle, when He served Arjuna as a non-combatant charioteer! But yet, it was only on that battlefield that the Message of the Bhagavad Geetha was imparted to him! Why? Arjuna developed the requisite attitude for the reception and retention of the Message only then.

First Arjuna was puzzled about his duty and was tremendously anxious to get light thrown upon it. He was torn between two paths, and in spite of all his discrimination and detachment he was at a loss to discover what his Dharma was. Second, he surrendered his judgement to God, and declared, out of the deepest recesses of his heart, in indescribable agony, “I am your disciple; I dedicate my entire being to your Will; tell me what to do and I shall obey.”

Arjuna is also called Paartha—a name applicable to all men, for, it is derived from prithivi (earth). It means earthly, earthborn. So, this situation is a reminder to every man on earth. If only you cultivate a deep yearning for guidance about your appropriate Dharma, and if only you surrender your will, your intellect, your emotions, your impulses to God, He will lead you to Himself, and endow you with Supreme Bliss.

Thirdly, Arjuna was overcome by Love, though it took on the colour of egoism and delusion. He felt that it was wrong and useless to kill his kinsmen, to plunge the land in misery, to slaughter the armies ranged against him. He preferred a life sustained on alms to ruling over an empire won by the sword. This compassion, though misplaced and based on an unreal sense of values, had its own appeal to the Lord, who resolved to transmute it into the renunciation of the attachment to the deed, and the fruits of the deed.

Every deed must take man nearer the goal; it must be a step in the pilgrimage to God. It must cleanse the emotions, correct the attitude, clarify the path and co-operate in the consummation. This has to be the constant care and vigilance of every seeker and aspirant to Bliss.

Prashaanthi Nilayam, July 1970