In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna expressing Himself quite frankly with Arjuna that there are unfortunately a vast majority of people in this world who pray to Him for selfish needs and to fulfil their own welfare! None of these people think about Bhagawan’s welfare even for a second. However, there are a few of them who are the opposite – They think only of Bhagawan’s welfare and they pray to Him to have His divine presence around them, just for no reason. Bhagawan Krishna explains here that He has a special liking towards such people who genuinely care for Him and who pray to Him without any expectation from Him. These people, as Bhagawan calls them as “Gnyaanis” are extremely close to His heart!
Now this is a very important message that Bhagawan conveys through the starting of the seventh “Adhyaaya”, which needs a lot of introspection from our end as well. For a moment, let us keep all this “Gita” and Arjuna aside and let us think of how we approach Bhagawan every day. Whenever we perform our “Nitya-Anushtaanam” every morning, afternoon and evening, what do we have in our mind while we pray to Bhagawan? Of course, all of us might have several joyous moments in our lives, as well as several problematic situations and challenges that we need to handle. During times when we are extremely joyous and happy, what kind of prayer do we put forth to Bhagawan, and during times when we are extremely sad and pained, what kind of prayer do we put forth? It might be a universal fact that at moments when we are happy and joyous, most of the time we never even think about Bhagawan! The very thought that the sole reason for our happiness and success being Bhagawan’s divine “Anugraha” at the right time goes off from our minds so easily and we start thinking that it is our own accomplishment! In such situations, many times we are even carried away to such an extent that we completely forget Bhagawan from the picture!
However, when there is a problem or a challenge that we might face in life, all of us will run towards Bhagawan seeking help! At this time, what might Bhagawan think? He might think, “Oh wow! How opportunistic this person is! If he’s happy in whatever he’s getting from me, he’s never even thankful to me for anything that he’s getting! However, if he is undergoing an issue, he is running towards me, expecting that I would give him a solution! How unfair this can be?” Of course, this might just be a hypothetical statement that I’m making here, and maybe Bhagawan might not have such harsh feelings towards us in this way, given His unending compassion and love towards all of us! However, the important question here is that are we reciprocating Bhagawan’s unending compassion in the right way? Bhagawan is so concerned about us that He’s ready to do whatever we’re asking for, with our prayers. He is never going to say a “No” to us, even if He might feel that we’re opportunistic towards Him! However, the point that I’m trying to make here is that, are we even aware that we are opportunistic towards Bhagawan! Are we even thinking of Bhagawan’s welfare even for a minute, given that we’re worried about our welfare 24*7? Are we offering our prayers in an unconditional way, with an understanding that Bhagawan’s divine presence is more than enough to solve any challenge that comes our way?”
Readers might remember this instance that we’ve earlier witnessed in this same Mahabharata project – When Arjuna and Duryodhana approached Bhagawan Krishna at the start of the war, Duryodhana asked for the entire army of Bhagawan Krishna (The Yaadava army) to be by his side. However, Arjuna had other plans – He wanted Bhagawan’s mere presence near him, so that, whatever may be the result of the war, Arjuna would be more than satisfied that even during such a catastrophic time, he had some quality time to spend with Bhagawan Krishna on the battlefield! This is what real prayer is all about! For this point, Arjuna himself is an example as to how unconditional his prayer was towards Bhagawan Krishna. Responding to Arjuna’s prayer thus, Bhagawan Krishna was so compassionate towards him, and in due course of the war, we’re going to witness an instance wherein Bhagawan Himself talks about Arjuna thus, “Oh! Looking at how the war is going on, I’m scared that I might lose Arjuna from my side! I cannot even imagine a life without Arjuna in my vicinity!” If Bhagawan Himself has to utter such a statement, we can imagine how unconditional was Arjuna’s surrender, and it is for this same reason, Bhagawan Krishna gifted the holy Bhagawad Gita to all of us through none other than Arjuna himself!
Hence, the point here is that, Bhagawan never says “No” for whatever request we make to Him through our prayers. However, if our prayers are unconditional towards Him, Bhagawan’s heart starts melting towards us. His compassion towards “Gnyaanis” like these knows no bounds! Hence, for today, let us re-orient our prayers towards Bhagawan in an unconditional way and let us witness the change in Bhagawan’s approach towards us henceforth! We shall wait till the next episode to continue with the discussion of the seventh “Adhyaaya”! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 