In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna highlighting an important point to Arjuna as well as to all of us that even if a person might not have had a spiritual past and if a person has done enormous bad deeds earlier, Bhagawan will still accept this person if he / she is willing to take a resolve today to walk the path of “Dharma” along with complete surrender to Bhagawan’s divine lotus feet. This comes from Bhagawan when Arjuna asks a question to Him explaining his stance that he has been into so many bad deeds in the past, and yet, is there an opportunity to be a “Bhakta” from now. Bhagawan Krishna thus motivates Arjuna that nothing is too late, and he can start afresh even from this minute onwards. All what Bhagawan looks for in us is how sincere we are in approaching Him. Even if we would have had a bad past, Bhagawan is ready to forgive us for all our bad deeds and still grant us the highest “Moksha”. But the question here is whether are we developing this realization atleast today or not!
To relate this to the present day, the problem comes when we get carried away by the “Maya” (Illusion) that Bhagawan has created in this world! For instance, immediately after reading through yesterday’s and today’s episode and after reading through Bhagawan’s assurance, all of us by this time would have the resolve in our minds that from today onwards we will exhibit complete surrender to Bhagawan and we shall follow every word of what Bhagawan Krishna says in the Gita. However, with the passage of time, will our efforts be as consistent as it is today? Will we have the same amount of zeal that we’ve had today? For this, the answer in many of our cases will be “No”! As time progresses, we will be taken over and absorbed by the “Maya”, which is something that all of us find very tough to break, isn’t it? This is where our consistency and effort is put to a hard test by Bhagawan. If we succeed this test, Bhagawan says towards the end of this ninth “Adhyaaya” thus,
“Manmanaabhava matbhaktaha madhyaaji maam namaskuru!
Maame vaishyasi yuktvayam aatmaanam matparaayanaha!!”
Here is where Bhagawan is going to elaborate in detail on what is real “Bhakti”. This is a very important shloka in the ninth “Adhyaaya” and here, Bhagawan Krishna says thus, “Oh Arjuna! A person who constantly thinks about me at all times (“Manmanaabhava”), a person who is consistently putting that effort to perform “Bhakti” continuously towards me without a break (“Madyaaji”), a person who always worships me at all times (“Maam Namaskuru”) is a real “Bhakta” towards me! Moreover, a person who is always dedicated towards me through his thoughts, words and actions (“Maame vaishyasi”) is certain to reach me at any point of time! This is the absolute reality!”
Hence, the message is loud and clear from Bhagawan Krishna here, isn’t it? So to answer the question as to who is a real “Bhakta” and what is “Bhakti”, Bhagawan has given four points in a nutshell! As ardent Bhaktas of Bhagawan Krishna, we should ask these questions within ourselves – “When are we considered eligible to call ourselves His Bhaktas”? Firstly, are we having Bhagawan in our thoughts constantly during whatever we do every passing day? Secondly, as Bhagawan said earlier, are we putting that constant effort with a lot of persistence and consistence to perform “Bhakti”? This starts right from our every day “Nityaanushtaanam” like performing our “Sandhyavandanam”, “Gayatri Japa”, etc. Are we able to perform these “Nitya Karma” properly without any hiccups? Are we able to perform these with complete focus on Bhagawan? Are we able to control our mind while performing our “Gayatri Japa”? We should find answers for all these questions as we move forward. Thirdly and most importantly, are our thoughts, words and actions aligning perfectly towards “Bhatki”? It cannot be the case wherein we would talk so high about Bhagawan, but our actions would be pole opposite, isn’t it? In other words, we cannot talk about Ramayana and next minute go and demolish a Rama temple, isn’t it? Thus, the “Bhakti” should be reflected through thoughts, words and actions, and this is very important!
Hence, we should take a moment here to do a self-introspection! This is where we can correct our path. When Bhagawan says that He would accept anybody and everybody who takes a progressive step towards correcting himself or herself and align their path towards Him, this is the introspection that we need to do for ourselves! So for today, let us do this introspection and we shall wait till the next episode to continue witnessing what Bhagawan is going to say next! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 