A peerless and invaluable conversation had taken place between Lord Krishna and Arjuna aeons ago which is captured in the Song Celestial. The Bhagvad Gita is a potent message as relevant today as it was prior to the commencement of the battle of Kurukshetra.
The Kaurava and Pandava armies braced themselves for the battle of Kurukshetra, to decide who would be the rightful heirs to the throne of Hastinapur. The conceited and hubristic Duryodhana egged on by his uncle Shakuni and brother Dushasana refused to enter into any treaty with their estranged cousins, the Pandavas.
As the armies faced each other, before the conch was blown to signal the commencement of war, the ace archer Arjuna quite inexplicably requested his charioteer Lord Krishna to take him closer to the enemy camp so that he could have a close sight of his rivals.
Beholding the sight, Arjuna’s mind was stricken with grief, remorse and guilt and he lay down his fabled arms. He was of the opinion that it would be iniquitous to gain the lost kingdom by slaying his kinsmen.
As if struck by a seizure, Arjuna was mentally distraught and willing to be annihilated rather than embark upon the voyage of bloodshed to avenge the ignominy of exile, the disrobing of Draupadi and the machinations of the evil Shakuni to usurp their kingdom. Such was the fragmented condition of Arjuna’s mind.
Lord Krishna rebukes Arjuna for such a pusillanimous attitude and defeatist thoughts. There upon he exhorts Arjuna to raise the cudgels and embark upon the battle. Upon witnessing the Vishwarupa form of the creator, Krishna’s sakha Arjuna gets emboldened and his mind is composed.
The febrile and wavering mind is never in the present moment. It is perpetually swinging like a pendulum between the past and the present and remains muddied in the emotions of attachment, entanglement, lust and obsession, greed and jealousy, anger and arrogance.
Apart from that the mind is gripped by fear of the unknown. Today the constant chant is, “When will a vaccine for the novel Corona virus be ready? When would the lockdown end?” The contributory reasons for negative thoughts are our low prana or energy levels and lack of self-confidence.
It is like Lionel Messi, Neymar or Cristiano Ronaldo in the cauldron, where rambunctious crowds are rooting for them, and they miss a spot kick much to the consternation of the maniacal crowds and team mates.
In various Art of Living programmes, participants bow down to the angels of east, south, west and north to overcome the above mentioned negative emotions. The Happiness Programme of the Art of Living teaches a precise and spesh “Hum” technique where in the individual releases fearful feelings and perturbations by literally screaming “Hum”. This releases all pent up emotions and de-freezes the distraught mind.
Thus Guru is the X –factor, the embodiment of Supreme Knowledge who metamorphoses and transfigures the mind. The Guru tattva encompasses the Shiva tattva and Narayana tattva.
A true yogi is one who is blessed with a brawny and robust mind, focussed with steely determination to execute the task on hand fearless of the consequences.
But herein lies the catch. A resolute and authentic yogi is one who is the sovereign of his mind. He does not get ensnared by cravings, lustful thoughts, unwelcome desires or fearful thoughts but conquers his mind and attitudes and attains three inestimable qualities of equilibrium, equipoise and equanimity.
Lord Krishna in the Bhagvad Gita reveals the secrets of life and death. The soul is indestructible and incombustible. The physical form which animate bodies assume is verily ephemeral.
An intrepid mind is like a warrior who takes up challenges and responsibilities and does not shirk from them; taking up responsibilities always empowers an individual. It is a weak and meek mind whose thoughts get obfuscated by the clouds of doubt.
Non–action is an act of cowardice too. Thus it is essential for humans to act. For this purpose it is essential that the human mind is trained to respond to various situations and not get stuck in the cesspool of inaction.
A sagacious person, a true Karma yogi discovers Divine peace in actions performed and is not bothered with the fruits of the action. The mind of such a person is pristine and the yogi dwells in the body as pure as the mind.
In our most impenetrable situations, it is only pristine knowledge that provides succour. The hallmark of a true Karma yogi is to steadfastly remain in the state of this knowledge.
Only an authentic and genuine seeker, whose mind is hollow and empty, bereft of all prejudices and preconceived notions will be able to accept this knowledge and act upon it. Thus Guru is the X-factor who imparts knowledge to the genuine seeker at his feet.
