In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna explaining how He is more interested in the “quality” of the offering, no matter what the “quantity” of it might be. All that matters for Bhagawan in a nutshell is whether we’re making the offering with a pure heart or not. Even if it is a small fruit or a leaf that we offer to Bhagawan, and if it is from deep within our heart and with an innocent prayer, Bhagawan is always ready to accept it gleefully and provide us with His divine “Anugraha”. In these lines, we’ve recalled a beautiful example from the Mahabharata itself wherein Bhagawan Krishna did not want to accept an elaborate meal from Duryodhana before the commencement of the war, because Bhagawan knew that Duryodhana’s intentions behind this offering were wicked. However, when Bhagawan went to Vidura’s house, He was more happy in consuming the skins of bananas which Vidura was offering by mistake, instead of the actual banana fruits. This is because Vidura is someone who is an epitome of “Dharma”, which aligns with his ardent devotion towards Bhagawan Krishna, and hence, whatever comes from Vidura’s hands, Bhagawan is ready to accept! This clearly shows how Bhagawan comes down to the level of His ardent “Bhaktas” to provide His divine “Anugraha”.
Moving on further thus, Arjuna has a question at this point. He asks Bhagawan thus, “Oh Bhagawan Krishna! All that you’ve been telling till now is for those people who have been perennial “Bhaktas” throughout their lives. Now, for people like me, we’ve never been into such ardent “Bhakti” till date. We’ve been into so many unlawful activities, we’ve been responsible for killing many living beings for no reason, we’ve been doing many sins (“Paapa Karma”), etc. Can people like us become “Bhaktas” too, or is it too late?”
This is a very important question that Arjuna is asking here, because, I’m sure many of us might be having this question in our mind as well – In fact, after reading through all whatever Bhagawan Krishna has said till now, a few of us might have even gotten a bit anxious because, we might not have been practising these things that Bhagawan points out. In such a case, are we even going to get that proximity towards Bhagawan in this birth at all? For this, Bhagawan Krishna offers a huge solace here. He gives a very important accord on this thus, “Oh Arjuna! It doesn’t really matter! Even if someone has been the most unethical person till yesterday and if he / she realizes that from today things are going to change for good, I’ll be the first person to accept this person with my arms open! However, the realization should be firm and this person should not go back to doing the same “Adharma” again! I’m ready to accept anybody who comes to me with this realization and resolve that they will not go back to “Adharma” again!”
Now, this is a very important point that Bhagawan is making and this is why we refer to Bhagawan as the most “compassionate” person on earth. When it comes to providing His divine “Anugraha” to all of us, Bhagawan is extremely compassionate and He literally wants all of us to come to Him. But, the question here is – Are we ready to go near Bhagawan to experience His divine “Anugraha” or not! We should understand here that even for people like us who keep committing enormous amounts of mistakes every passing minute and day, Bhagawan is showing His unending compassion towards us and we should entail this opportunity to get as much closer to Him as possible. We should understand one thing clearly – There cannot be many people in this world who get the realization about Bhagawan right from day one of their birth! Only a few “Mahatmas” like Prahlaada and the others are fortunate enough for that. For all of us who are normal people, we tend to realize Bhagawan through various experiences that life throws at us, based on the “Karma” that we’ve accumulated so far. Hence, the realization for us can come at different stages of life, and this is not in our hands. However, once we get an opportunity to know about Bhagawan by reading through the “Gita” and understanding it, the question here is how we transform ourselves in such a way that we’re entering into the proximity of Bhagawan. Of course, this is not an overnight process, and it is definitely a long-haul mechanism. But, are we putting in the right effort to fathom the change from within us? This is the question that all of us need to answer for ourselves!
So for today, let us understand the hint that Bhagawan has given in this episode, and let us start creating that transformation within us with more motivation! I’m sure many of us would have already started working on the transformation, but this message from Bhagawan can certainly accelerate the process further! We shall wait till the next episode to continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 