In the previous episode, we had witnessed a thought process on whether Bhagawan Krishna conducted Himself in a biassed way towards Arjuna or Duryodhana, or, did He take a neutral approach towards both of them. One of the perspectives through which we witnessed is that, Bhagawan Krishna gave away all His army and cavalry and thus, satisfied Duryodhana’s wish! This might make us feel that Bhagawan Krishna batted for Duryodhana for his preparation towards the war. However, on the other end, Arjuna had asked for Bhagawan Krishna’s mere presence, and He granted that as well. So now, can we say that Bhagawan Krishna was biassed towards Arjuna and not towards Duryodhana? This is where we’ve to understand an important point – Bhagawan grants all whatever a devotee asks for! Here in this perspective, we’ve witnessed that Duryodhana had asked for Bhagawan Krishna’s army and he obtained it. It was not that Bhagawan Krishna had volunteered to give it to Duryodhana. In the same way, Arjuna had asked for Bhagawan Krishna’s presence with him and He granted it to Arjuna. It was again not that Bhagawan Krishna volunteered to be with Arjuna during the war. Thus, it is evident from this perspective that Bhagawan is always neutral towards all His devotees. He does not differentiate between who is whom and the devotees’ backgrounds!
This leads us to a very important point here – How does this viewpoint impact us? What can we learn from this accord as ardent devotees of Bhagawan Krishna? First and foremost point to be spoken about here is that, all of us are equal under Bhagawan’s eyes! There is no difference between us with respect to being rich or poor, being from an elite family background or being from a poor family, or hailing from a particular “high” caste or a “lower” caste, etc. All of us are “Jeevatmas” and children of Bhagawan and just like how a mother or a father doesn’t entail any differentiation between their children, Bhagawan also doesn’t encourage any sort of differentiation between His divine children. If a mother has two kids and if one kid is having a physical problem and the other one doesn’t, will the mother be biassed towards the child which doesn’t have any problem? Will the mother ignore a child with some problems? The answer is “No”, isn’t it? Similarly here too, Bhagawan does not differentiate between any of His children. This is where we’ve witnessed even during our Ramayana project as to how Bhagawan Rama accepted Vibhishana as His own brother along with Lakshmana, Bharata and Shathrugna. Even though Vibhishana was a Raakshasa by nature, did Bhagawan Rama reject him? Even though Guha was a poor hunter, did Bhagawan Rama reject him? The answer is “No”, isn’t it? Hence, Bhagawan does not entertain any sort of differentiation between His ardent devotees. All that He wants from us is complete “Sharanagati” (Surrender) to His divine lotus feet! Are we ready to do this? This is what we’ve to answer within ourselves!
Secondly, it is important as to what we ask from Bhagawan! For instance, when we go to a temple or when we offer our prayers and Bhagawan comes in front of us! Bhagawan asks us thus, “Oh child! I’m ready to grant whatever you want! Please feel free to ask me for whatever you wish for!” If such an offer is given to us by Bhagawan, what will we ask for? Most of the time, we would ask thus, “Oh Bhagawan! I want a luxurious home to live in! I want a luxurious car to travel in! I want all my family members to respect me enormously! I want my son / daughter to secure admission in a good university / college for graduation!, etc.!” The list goes on and on…. But do we have the maturity to reply to Bhagawan thus, “Oh Bhagawan! You know what you should give your beloved child! Who am I to ask anything to you? You give me whatever you feel is best for me!” Bhagawan, as our divine father knows what to give and what not to give to his child, doesn’t He? If He knows everything, who are we to ask him for all these petty things? Of course, Bhagawan will grant anything that we ask for, and if we’re asking all the above-mentioned items to Him, we are on Duryodhana’s side! This is exactly what Duryodhana too asked for, isn’t it? For worldly pleasures, kingdom, luxuries, etc.! Should we fall on this side, or should we leave it to Bhagawan to decide what to give us? If we leave it to Bhagawan, we automatically get away from Duryodhana’s side, isn’t it?
This is just the second stage. There is a third stage to it. For the same question from Bhagawan, do we have the maturity to ask Bhagawan thus, “Oh Bhagawan! I want you to grant me the opportunity to be at your divine lotus feet, serving you all the time! Through this, please grant me the highest “Moksha”!” How many of us are mature enough to ask this to Bhagawan? This is the very purpose of taking a human birth in this world, isn’t it? When Arjuna requested Bhagawan Krishna’s mere presence with him at all times, he meant this only! He wants to be at Bhagawan Krishna’s divine lotus feet all the time and this enabled him to obtain the divine “Anugraha” from Bhagawan! Now if we’re developing this level of spiritual maturity, it automatically implies that we are on Arjuna’s side! 🙂
So for today, let us think on these lines and reflect within ourselves to inculcate a change in approach towards Bhagawan! We shall continue this discussion in the next episode to take things forward from here! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 