The Relevance of the Bhagavadgita to Humanity

The First Six Chapters of the Bhagavadgita

by Swami Krishnananda

Chapter 4: Stories from the Aranya Parva

The Aranya Parva of the Mahabharata is a very vast book. It is the largest book, next to the Shanti Parva, out of the eighteen books of the Mahabharata. All the stories, anecdotes, narrations, mythological descriptions – practically all which we may consider as popular religion – can be seen beautifully pictured in the Aranya Parva of the Mahabharata. It is one of the most interesting treatises, filled with stories of wondrous, miraculous occurrences and the possibilities, secrets, and profundities of creation.

No human being will believe some of the things stated there. They will say that this is not possible, but everything is possible in this creation of God. Nobody believed some centuries back that planes made of tons of metal will fly in the air, but today they do. So we should not be under the impression that we are very wise, or that we know all the features of nature.

I am mentioning one instance of a miracle mentioned in the Mahabharata. The Pandavas were unbefriended in that wilderness. Yudhisthira of the Pandavas, with his queen, had no food to eat. Where is the food in the forest? A rishi told Yudhisthira, “Pray to the Sun for relief of the suffering of hunger.” We will not do that kind of prayer when we are hungry; it makes no sense for us, but it made sense to him. In a touching prayer, Yudhisthira expressed his feelings to the mighty Sun. Now came the miracle. The deity in the Sun emerged out of the orb and offered a vessel, saying, “If food is cooked in this vessel, it shall be inexhaustible.” But a condition was put so that they may not be under the impression that everything was well with them unconditionally. “When your queen eats, the food shall be exhausted. Until she eats, food will always be there. Any number of people can eat from that vessel and the food will be inexhaustibly present.”

Now, can we believe in such a possibility? If we believe in the language of modern science that there is such a thing called the four-dimensional reality, we will accept this truth. It is only in the three-dimensional spatiotemporal world that we can deduct something from something else. In the four-dimensional realm, nothing can be deducted. It is an inexhaustible indivisibility. The full can be taken away from the full, and yet the full only remains: pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate; pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvasisyate. Even if we take all the food from the vessel, still the food is there as it was. These are wonders.

Today I am not discussing any intricate theme. It is a light vein of a story which you may find very interesting. The Pandavas were getting on with the miracle vessel, the divine bowl offered by the Sun. How can the Sun be so kind to us? I was happy to read a little anecdote in the Kalyana Kalpataru. Kalyana is the magazine of the Gita Press. They narrated a story that actually happened. One gentleman from Europe who was not accustomed to the heat of the Indian sun in summer got sunstroke when he stood in the sun. He could not bear the heat of this summer of India. He had fever, and he took rest and recovered. The next day some brainwave occurred to him. It appears he took in his hand some flowers and holy water, gazed at the mighty brilliance, chanted a mantra, put it down as an offering, and stood there for more hours than he had stood the previous day, and nothing happened to him. He was perfectly all right.

Sri Krishna, the great superman, was the friend and well-wisher and the unfailing protection of the Pandavas, but he was not available when they were in the state of great misery through which they had to pass, an incident that is described in the Sabha Parva, an earlier section of the book. It was an outrageous condition in which they were sunk, yet the hand of God did not help. Why should God not help us every minute? God only knows. But some explanation is sometimes offered. He comes only when we want Him, or rather, when it is impossible for us to exist without Him. And certain circumstances were there which explain this mystery. We need not go into those details now.

Sri Krishna came with a retinue and greeted the Pandavas in the forest to express regret over what had happened. He did nothing else, only expressed regret. “If I had been there at that time, I would certainly have not allowed this to happen. But for some reason I was engaged otherwise, and I could not be present. I am really sorry for what has happened. That is all. What can I do? I am very sorry.”

Now, why he said only that much and did not raise his finger? This is for every spiritual seeker to research. Many a time we see wretchedness superintending over even good souls. Great saints lived a life of hardship, intense suffering, test and turmoil. Everyone had to carry a cross. And it is perhaps necessary that everyone has to carry this cross as long as one is in this world. It is the process of burning and burnishing our spirit, and making us ready for God to embrace us.

Another incident was very humorous. Many of you might have heard this story. The jealous, envious Duryodhana did not want that the Pandavas should have peace, even in the forest. They had been exiled, were in a very bad condition, had lost everything, and this man need not have any fear of them. Even then, he did not want to know that they are alive. One day he had a peculiar idea in his mind, which arose due to some sudden circumstance that occurred. The great sage Durvasa came to Duryodhana's palace, and he was very mightily pleased with the hospitality accorded to him by the king, Duryodhana. “Ask for a boon,” said the sage.

Do you know what kind of boon Duryodhana asked for? “I would very much wish that your holiness extend this kind of blessing to my brethren in the forest. They too will be happy to receive you and to extend to you this same hospitality. What can be a greater satisfaction to me than the same blessing be given to them also?” Look at this man. He knew that they could not give anything because they were beggars, and the sage would be so angry. Nobody could encounter Durvasa's anger, and the Pandavas would be destroyed by the curse of this man. So this was the very shrewd suggestion Duryodhana gave. “O your Holiness, please bless them also.”

The holy sage went at midday, with eighty thousand disciples. Yudhisthira, who was extremely kind, received the great sage. “Blessed is this spot at this moment to have your divinity here. You shall receive my hospitality today.” The good man sometimes spoke without proper understanding. What kind of hospitality could he give to eighty thousand disciples? And they have to be served lunch. Well, you may say, there is an inexhaustible vessel, so why not serve? But unfortunately the queen had eaten, and there was nothing left there. And the sage said, “Yes, I shall have my bath and come.” He went to the river for a bath, along with his eighty thousand disciples.

Draupadi, poor lady, knew the predicament. “What have you done?” she asked her husband. “You have said, 'Please come for lunch.' What will we cook? And you know the consequence of his displeasure.”

Yudhisthira said, “Now I have spoken, and what I have said, I have said.”

“Oh Lord, protect us!” she wept inside the house.

Now this is another miracle which we will not be able to understand, and because we cannot understand, we cannot appreciate it from the bottom of our hearts. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. She had bolted the door from inside, and was weeping. Again there was another knock, two knocks, three knocks. When she opened the door, it was Sri Krishna standing there. Sri Krishna said, “I am hungry. I want some food.”

Draupadi said, “I am crying with sorrow. Don't come and taunt and tease me at this moment. I have now a need for help from people like you.”

“Now don't talk of help and all that. Give me some food,” Krishna said.

“Food? Where is the food?” she asked. “My vessel is empty.”

“No, your vessel is not empty. There is some food in it. Bring the vessel,” said Krishna.

Draupadi brought the empty vessel. It so happened there was a little leaf of vegetable sticking to it, which she had not washed properly. Krishna ate a piece of that little leaf. “Let the Universal be satisfied,” he said, and then he vanished. Where he went, nobody knows. He was not there afterwards.

Now, the interesting part of the story is what happened to these disciples and the Guru taking a bath in the river, who were expected back for lunch? One hour passed, two hours passed, three hours passed, and they did not come. Yudhisthira, the good man, thought they may be annoyed or that something is wrong. He sent Bhima. “Please go and find out what has happened, why they are not coming.” When they saw Bhima, they ran from there. The more he called them, the more they ran. What was the matter? Why did they run? Because when they were taking a bath, they felt their stomachs bloating with satisfaction as if they had eaten food up to the nose. They said, “Now if we go back and he serves a meal, how will we eat? It will be a disrespect that we don't eat, so we will go from here.” And when that man called them, they all bolted away.

Now, what is this mystery? When the soul is satisfied, the whole body is satisfied. Even when we take our breakfast, lunch or dinner, it is necessary that our soul should be satisfied. This is incidentally some instruction for every one of us, apart from the miracle aspect. We are not supposed to eat like animals, like dogs, just swallowing something crudely while thinking anything and saying anything, and then giving distress to the stomach. It is nothing of the kind. Unless your soul is satisfied, you have not eaten. There will be a satisfaction arising from the deepest recess of your being if the food that you have taken has been really received by the God inside you. If it has not so been received, you have not eaten. You will not get strength. It will not give you energy. It will only cause illness. Nowadays we have a disrespectful way of eating. There are many hotels and such places. It is an unsanctified way of eating because it is a commercial activity. Everywhere there is business, and eating is also a business. It should not be.

There is a beautiful illustration of this art of eating in the Vaishvanara Vidya of the Chhandogya Upanishad where we are told that eating is a sacrifice that you are performing to the great God that is within you. It is called prana agnihotra. It is outwardly performed by traditional Brahmins in India as an external sacrifice, but the real meaning is an internal oblation that is offered to the flames of fire in the form of the five pranas. These five pranas are like flames of fire that receive the oblation that you offer in the form of the food that you eat. Those who are traditionally oriented and instructed in the religious way of eating do not suddenly put the food in their mouth. They do a little ritual. That ritual is an outward gesture of their internal methodology of offering the food to the Atman inside. Pranaya svaha, apanaya svaha, vyanaya svaha, udanaya svaha, samanaya svaha. Five times it is offered with some little ritualistic procedure. The Vaishvanara Vidya mentions that when one prana is satisfied, everything connected with the prana is also satisfied. Then that aspect of the mind which is related to that prana is satisfied, and the divinity operating on that aspect of mental function is also satisfied. If the divinity is satisfied, that to which the divinity is connected is satisfied, the five elements are satisfied, and the universe is satisfied. You can imagine, if you eat, the universe is satisfied! So in our Indian custom there is a belief that feeding is a great religious ritual. We do not consider anything as more honourable in the way of charity than giving food – anna dhana. No charity is equal to giving food and drink, it is said. It is not just that you are thrusting some material into the stomach of some man. It is a holy act that you are performing.

So this incident in the Mahabharata, where a little leaf that was eaten by a mighty person like Krishna satisfied the stomachs of thousands of people, means he was universally commensurate with all the forces of nature. He was a master yogin, and so when something went in, it went to everybody. His prana was universally spread out, Hiranyagarbha prana, and that is the reason why we believe that the service done to a saint is greater than service done to millions of others. The satisfaction of one spiritual genius is to be considered as of greater value than the satisfaction of many animals and subhuman levels. It is good to give satisfaction to every living being. It is necessary. The Upanishad mentions that. In a very astonishing statement, the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad tells us we should not disturb even an ant moving in the house. This is one passage which touched me very much. Even an ant in the house we should not disturb. And if you do not disturb a living being, even an ant in your house, it will one day protect you in the same way as you have protected it. A day will come when a mouse will save a lion. No one believes that a mouse can save a lion.

Do you know the story of how a mouse saved a lion? A lion was caught in a net of a hunter and, without going into the details of it, a little mouse said, “I shall be of some help to you, if you do not harm me.”

The lion inside the net laughed, “You can help me, a little mouse?”

“I may be able to do something.” What did it do? It was waiting for the time when the hunter will come to catch the prey. Every day he used to come at a particular hour. So a few minutes before the time when the hunter was to arrive, the mouse started nibbling at that net, and cut all the knots, and the lion immediately ran out. So a mouse can save a lion.

Therefore, even little animals are not to be neglected. They also have to be taken care of. But, nevertheless, the satisfaction of a spiritually elevated soul is greater. If you satisfy a Christ or a Krishna or a Buddha, it is a greater service than satisfying many others in the world. Well, this is a lesson for us, and also an instruction in the mysteries of creation. There is nothing impossible. In a minute, a miracle can take place.

I will tell you another story. Today I will tell you only stories, nothing else. I am tired, so I will tell stories only. There was a great sage. Due to some error in meditation or through some mistake, he was born as a deer. It is not Jada Bharata, the deer about whom you read in the Bhagavata Mahapurana. Due to the power of meditation, it remembered its past birth. It knew what it was but because it was a deer it was vulnerable, accessible to any hunter. One day it was caught by the hunter. What the hunter did was, he tied a net on one side, set a huge configuration of fire on the second side, let off his hounds on the third side, and on the fourth side, he himself stood with a poisoned arrow directed against the deer. There was no protection. It could not go any direction because all the four sides were covered. Suddenly the deer remembered its previous life, and the great power that was there. How it remembered, what strength of thought motivated its prayer at that time, nobody knows. Succour came immediately. You cannot imagine how you can be helped in such a condition, in the worst of conditions. Unimaginable situation! There was a cyclone. Immediately a wind blew, and the wind brought some clouds. The wind blew in such a way that the net was caught by the very fire that the hunter had set. The wind blew in the direction of the net, so the flames caught the net, and the raindrops extinguished the fire. A snake started moving on the ground just near the foot of the hunter, and he felt some sensation. In fright he let off the arrow, which hit his own dog, and the deer was saved. Why should you not be saved? Many are the varieties of these stories. Some other kinds of stories we have in the Aranya Parva of the Mahabharata.

Anyhow, it was a very undecided condition of the future of the Pandavas. Nobody knew what would happen to them, and according to the principles of the exile meted out to them, they had to live incognito for one year. Great troubles they had. It was only after thirteen years of suffering they saw the light of help coming from friends, led by Sri Krishna himself. That is the beginning of spiritual aspiration, righteousness, goodness, and right motivation taking root positively. Until the Udyoga Parva of the Mahabharata, we do not see any positive light in front of a person. It is all confusion, setbacks. Though there was sometimes a ray of hope descending from heaven in the form of blessings received from Indra and other gods who furnished the Pandavas with weapons and missiles of a mystical type, with all that, they were suffering. And after all, who would like to be unbefriended in the forest? It was the worst thing to be incognito, living unknown, and somehow escaping the notice of other people. When the period of exile was over, all friends came.

There is a period of test for every one of us in this world. It is not that honey and milk will flow immediately, though it must flow one day. It is not that it should not flow – it will flow, it has to flow, but it does not flow immediately. We are put to the rack in the beginning, for reasons God only knows, for reasons of the very nature of the structure of this universe. Sometimes it appears to us that we have nobody in this world. Every spiritual seeker feels that. “I have neither this world nor the other world. I have neither money in my hand, nor friends to help me. I have not even medicine to take if I am sick.” That dejection of spirit may be compared to the condition of the Pandavas in the Aranya Parva. We have nothing. God save us!

This is a very peculiar state of affairs which an honest spiritual seeker may have to pass through. It does not mean that the very first step is a sweet step. It may be a step attended with tremendous hardship. To wrench oneself from attachments to the world, and then feel that one has nothing to replace that which one had earlier, is an indescribable state of mind. We have, in the name of religion, spirituality, yoga, and love of God, freed ourselves from the clutches of human relation, social contact, position, power, authority, land, building, everything, but to replace that little satisfaction of external possession we had, we have nothing with us. So there is a kind of vacuum which should not be there, but will necessarily be there. In the earlier stages of spiritual life, we will find ourselves in a state of vacuum. When we have lost something, if there is nothing to replace that particular position of loss, we can imagine what our condition is. Nobody can exist in a vacuum. It is not possible. But in the earlier stages it looks like a no-man's land. Neither is the world going to help us, nor is there any sign that God is existing. Let alone seeing Him, even His existence cannot be discovered.

In a mystical language, this is called the dark night of the soul by certain great masters who lived the life of spirit. It is a vacuum, no doubt, but it is not an unnecessary condition. It is a precondition to illumination. Suffering and a vacuity – both will be your possessions. The Aranya Parva is nothing but suffering, and the Virat Parva succeeding it, the life of being incognito, is a kind of vacuity, a very indescribable condition, and Arjuna was in that condition in the first chapter of the Bhagavadgita, they say. He did not know anything; it was all confusion, a vacuous condition of human understanding.

We see darkness everywhere and do not know what to do. The direction that we have to take is not clear. This is not to be considered as a retrogression in our aspiration; it is a precondition to further illumination. It was the stage through which even a man like Buddha had to pass, and everyone has to pass, but we are likely to mistake it for a fall rather than a necessary step. When we are completely blank and dazed, looking helpless, we do not know whether we are moving forward or downward in our movement. There a Guru's grace is necessary. We should not be in a vacuous condition at that time. That is a dangerous state where we can fall this way or that way, and to tell us where we actually need to plant our foot properly, a Guru's guidance is necessary.

Once that veil of vacuousness and darkness is pierced through and the life of an unknown existence, an undiscovered existence, the Virat Parva is over, we will find the light of the universe radiantly beaming forth on our face, and the whole world will be at our back. The world will tell us, “I am with you.” In the beginning it told us, “Don't talk to me. I have nothing to do with you. You have left me, so I shall also not talk to you.” This kind of retort may come from the world, and we may be in that condition of sorrow: “Oh, I have nothing.” But we have to pass that step of the test given to us by the forces of nature. It is a psychological condition which the mind has to pass through due to detachment and inward freedom that it has achieved from the emotional connections it had with outward objects.

So in the beginning there is a kickback, as it were, given by those centres which were befriended by the human emotions and feelings, but that kick is a temporary kick. Immediately the tables will be turned, and we will find that our enemies become friends. The world which was a horror and a terrible place to live will become heaven in one minute because the world is not hell; it is the creation of God, and God has not created anything ungodly. Nothing can come from God except that which is divine, so we should not imagine that He has created hell, and so on. It is only a temporary state of our involvement in a peculiar predicament of detachment from external connections, and then Sri Krishna comes with the whole army of help. We shall also wait for that day.