The Relevance of the Bhagavadgita to Humanity

The First Six Chapters of the Bhagavadgita

by Swami Krishnananda

Chapter 13: The Supremely Friendly Power

The first three chapters of the Bhagavadgita have a more or less technical character, and they are analytic in nature. Ethical, moral, philosophical are the issues that are described and discussed, and the themes get more and more pronounced in seriousness as the teaching proceeds further and further. And, at the same time, it also becomes more and more involved in different kinds of issues, almost making us feel that we are not fully confident as to where we are placed. Our placement in the context of the teachings seems to be difficult to decipher clearly, and a hard nut to crack, as it were, is presented to us in a pithy message that is bequeathed, especially through the Third Chapter. We get frightened, to some extent, because of the feeling of diffidence due to our own finitude, a secret sense of helplessness and a simultaneous feeling of doubt whether anything is possible at all.

In this wondrous atmosphere of intricate arrangements which we call the world, this universe, this cosmos, things seems to be theoretically clear and to some extent intellectually capable of grasp, but they do not appear to be anywhere near our practical life. This teaching has not yet entered our kitchen. It is only in the academy, in the university; but in our bedroom, in our kitchen, on our dining table, it is not there, and the realities are only these little things, not what we hear in the universities. So there is a fear gripping the heart of the student: What about my ability to make this knowledge a part of my program of life?

In spite of listening to any amount of teaching, the fear of weakness consequent upon limitation and finitude in every sense of the term persists. No one can forget that one is limited, finite, and weak in every field of relationship. There is socially a great limitation put on us; physically and mentally we are limited. Even in our understanding through the reason we are limited. Everything seems to be a constraint that has been put on us such that it does not appear that the superior content of this message has any vital relevance to our life.

The Fourth Chapter of the Bhagavadgita is an opening of a new avenue. A beam of light of a different character is shed on the floundering mind of the student. A new thought, a new possibility, and a new support seems to be made available to us. It is something about which nothing was mentioned earlier, something which was kept secret up to this time, as it were, the need to mention which evidently did not arise, but the mention of it is imperative in the light of a comprehensiveness of the presentation of the teaching.

There is a supremely friendly power operating in this universe. We are not likely to be aware of this fact always. We have a natural feeling, mostly, that we are totally friendless in this world. When there is trouble, we shall not receive help from anybody. We shall be left to our fate when things come to a head. We may have tentative assistances, and a type of help we may expect from human society. We do have friends in this world, but they are conditionally arranged friends. Unconditional assistance we cannot expect.

There are occasions in life when we seem to be drowning in grief, as if death has gripped our throat and nobody will look at us except the jaws of death. At that time, we do not seem to have any kind of real relations with things. Our natural feeling is, many a time, submerged in the veneer of an outer pleasantness of human relationship. This pleasantness is an outer coating; inwardly there is the bitter pill of the medicine of the hard facts of life, which are not always available on the surface of apparent human relationships.

One need not despair. The one who gives this message, the Bhagavadgita, is a representative of the true friendship in this cosmos. Sri Krishna is considered as the permanent friend of Arjuna. Nara and Narayana are said to be inseparable brothers, inseparable friends, inseparable in every way, with Narayana representing God, Sri Krishna representing the very same thing, and Arjuna, or Nara, representing man – yourself, myself and everybody. There is an inseparable friendship that is at the base of our relationship with a secret power in this world, which is a totally outside matter for our day-to-day practical existence.

This very image of Nara-Narayana or Krishna-Arjuna as friends is given to us in another form in a passage of the Veda, and also in a passage which is repeated in the Mundaka Upanishad, that there are two birds perching on the branch of a tree. One bird is very busy with the delicious fruits of the tree, and the other bird is minding not as to what is there at all, not eating, not concerning itself with anything. The unfortunate part of it is that this busy bird eating the sweet plums is not even aware that the other bird is there nearby.

The involvement of the human mind, the engagement in human passions, desires and prejudices in the atmosphere of the world, is so intense that it cannot even be conscious for a moment that there is some super-earthly, super-physical, super-material, super-individual power masquerading in this very world unseen, unrecognised, and yet being aware of all things and ready to be of succour even to the littlest of creations. The idea behind the image of the friendship of Krishna and Arjuna perpetually obtaining, of Nara-Narayana or the two birds mentioned, is that we are not so very friendless as we may imagine in the desperate delusions of our minds, in the sorrows in which we are usually sunk. We do not find ourselves in that awakened atmosphere of it being possible for us to be conscious of there being such a thing. Like an owl which cannot visualise the light of the sun even if it is blazing at midday, the sunk mind of the bound individual cannot recognise, cannot cognise, cannot be aware even of that which is just by its side. But that is there as your friend.

So the Fourth Chapter commences with a startling and persuasive message of giving a healing and balming touch to the anxious soul that has been listening to such a complicated and difficult message of prakriti and the gunas, and their involvements, and the senses getting subjected to the operation of the gunas, and an apparent helplessness of the individual in this vast field of cosmic activity. That may be there; let us accept it. But there is a remedy for this apparent problem which one involved in the cosmic operations of the gunas of prakriti is facing.

The touch of the finger of God can be seen in every little thing in this world. This is something we cannot even imagine in our minds. There is the descent of God in every particle of His creation. God is not a transcendent, other-worldly, unknown witness, a father, as if He has no connection with what He has created; He is intensely conscious of even the minute operations in His creation. We conceive God in the relationship He has with His creation as Brahma, Vishnu, Siva. He is not merely Brahma, the creative principle; He is also Vishnu, the sustainer. He does not merely manufacture a house, like a contractor, and leave us to our fate. He is not a contractor. He is a sustainer, a benefactor, a protector, a caretaker, a maintainer also. Therefore, the creative Brahma is also Vishnu.

Now, the Vishnu aspect is the redeeming aspect that is introduced into this creative terrific form of a God that seems to be above the prakriti and the gunas. God incarnates Himself for the purpose of setting right what may not be right under given conditions in cosmic history. Whenever there is any kind of critical moment appearing, a juncture as it is called, a yuga, and a catastrophic circumstance where human power utterly fails, divine power shall intercede.

There is some difficulty in our understanding the manner in which God works in this world, and the difficulty may persist as long as we remain as human beings and can think only as human beings, and in no other manner. Devotees, saints and sages are witnesses to the fact of the mysterious operation of God in this world.

Human capacity has a touch of egoism behind it. Our confidence that we can do something is not dissociated from an element of self-confidence, which is identifiable with our bodily individuality. Instances which are galore in the epics and the Puranas make out that God does help, but only when His help is necessary. It is necessary to feel the unavoidable presence of the Almighty in a given circumstance. If we feel that His presence may not be necessary, then that incarnation may not take place.

Do you sometimes feel that His presence is not necessary, that you can manage by yourself? Though this may look a fantastic position to maintain, a totally indefensible position that a man can sometimes get on even without the help of God, such a thing is not possible, and no sensible person will agree to that. But in spite of our logically and philosophically not agreeing to our own capacity independent of God's interference, the ego has its own say. There is a power of the ego which is indescribable, and it has to fail. The pride of man is humbled throughout human history. Great potentates are pushed down to the bowels of the Earth by the forces of nature, and the mightiest power on Earth is pounded down to dust today or tomorrow, but this is not easily cognised by the adamant mind of the human being. There is a kind of strength of arms, strength of personality, strength of money and strength of physique which one oftentimes assumes, which really is a chimera, which is really not there. It appears to be there for reasons beyond human understanding.

Now, while it is true that God operates even in conditions which are not cognised by the human mind, and that every operation is an operation by God only, yet it is consciously felt only when the ego opens up its gates. That conscious feeling of the coming of God into our practical life is the Avatara of God, the Incarnation, though in a way we may say there is an Incarnation every moment of time, like the rays of the Sun perpetually bathing the Earth. For the Earth there is no sunrise and sunset. All the twenty-four hours of the day the Earth receives the light of the Sun this way or that way, so there is no moment when God can forget His creation. He need not have time to come for help in respect of every event that is taking place in the world, but the value of the assistance that one can avail of from God depends much on the extent of our being able to recognise the presence of God. An unknown God is no God for us. An unconscious help is no help. It becomes conscious assistance when the ego is able to receive this inflow of assistance coming from super-human sources. Miraculously we shall be saved.

So there need be no diffidence on the part of Arjuna or any one of us that it is a hard job for us. Is this possible? Who can penetrate through this thick veil of the three gunas, which is as vast as the sky itself? No difficulty is there. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata, abhyutthānam adharmasya tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmyaham; paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām, dharmasaṁsthāpanārthāya sambhavāmi yuge yuge (BG 4.7-8): For the establishment of the righteousness of the kingdom of God, God Himself comes. He does not send his assistants or secretaries. There is a direct coming of the Almighty Himself. He does not send His page, or a policeman; He Himself comes.

There is a humorous story. It seems Birbal, the court jester of Emperor Akbar, was telling this kind of story: God Himself comes; He does not send an assistant. Akbar smiled, it seems, about this kind of Indian story of God Himself coming for doing even a little thing. “What kind of God do you have? He has a mighty retinue; He can send his angels or a celestial army. For a little thing, He Himself comes.”

It appears this statement was made by Emperor Akbar when Birbal was telling him the story of the Gajendra Moksha, which occurs in the Bhagavata Purana. Many of you might have heard it. A crocodile was catching the foot of an elephant who had been a sage in the previous birth. He was born as an elephant due to some mistake, and had the memory of his past life. So the crocodile was pulling the elephant down into the water, and it became impossible for even the strong elephant to pull its leg out of the mire. Because of the memory of its previous life it prayed to the Almighty All-pervading Essence, and the Lord came. God Himself came.

Akbar said, “Why should He Himself come for a little thing? What is this crocodile? Even the peon of a peon can set right this matter. For a little crocodile, the whole universe is shaking, and the Almighty is coming? What kind of God have you got?”

Birbal said, it seems, “I shall illustrate the veracity of my story someday. What I said is correct. God Himself comes even for little things. He will not send an assistant or a secretary or a policeman.”

“Oh,” Akbar said. He smiled, and went.

Birbal was a very humorous person. It appears that due to the fondness that Akbar had for this good fellow Birbal, he had entrusted the care of his son to him.  The little child of Akbar was always with Birbal. He was taking care of him and taking him for a walk, and seeing to his security, and keeping him happy, cajoling him, and so on. One day Birbal thought, “I shall teach a lesson to this Akbar, who does not believe in the greatness of God and the mysteries of His working.” He asked one gentleman, a sculptor, to help him in this matter. He asked him to prepare an image identically looking like the child of Akbar. It should be identical to the son. And it was done. He said, “It is Akbar's order, the Emperor's order itself. You do it. You shall be paid for it.” A beautiful image was made, looking exactly like the son, and Birbal had arranged that this beautiful image should be kept just on the precipice of a deep well. It was there, while the real boy was kept in the house. It was dusk, when things could not be seen properly. Birbal took Akbar for a walk in that garden where there was a well near which the image looking like the child of Akbar was kept. Akbar was seated there. “Oh, my child is here. He is alone.” At that time it was so arranged by Birbal that someone would push this image into the well, and suddenly it fell down.

Birbal ran. “Oh, the child has fallen into the well, O Your Highness!”

The King rushed immediately. “Oh, my dear boy!”

The Birbal said, “Wait! Send your policeman. Send your secretary. Why are you yourself running? Why are you rushing there? You have got an army, you have got police, you have got friends, you have got secretaries; why are you, Your Highness, running there?”

He said, “This is my child. How can you talk to me like that? My child has fallen!”

Birbal said, “Your child is safe, your highness. Don't be anxious. This is only an image. I, of course, made a cruel joke on you. I ought not to have done this, but this is an explanation, an answer to a query that you posed the other day, 'Why should the Almighty come Himself? Why not send a secretary?' Why did you not send a secretary when the child fell into the well? It is because it is your child.”

So is the love of God for His creation. God loves you, say the saints and the sages, more than you love God. It is difficult to understand. Saints and sages, devotees, weep day in and day out, shedding tears, remembering the love God has for themselves, for creation, for everybody. It is said in the Bhakti Shastras, scriptures in devotion, that if you take one step ahead in the direction of God, God will come running, taking one hundred steps toward you. God wants you more than you want Him. Your wanting Him is a great thing, but what to speak about His wanting you?

The whole universe wants you. You can imagine the whole universe wanting you. What could be that affection? Every particle, every grain of sand, every atom is wanting you. It loves you. It clings to you. It weeps for you. It is your friend. What could be the extent of that love which the whole universe will evince in respect of you if that can be appreciated and understood? And what is your puny love when you sit in a corner wanting to love God, the Almighty? Where comes your little love? You are a little, tiny dust particle, as it were, in this vast spread of God's creation, and your love for that, what does it mean? What does it amount to in comparison with the total love of the whole creation for you? God's love is immeasurable, and man's puny ego cannot appreciate it.

“So Arjuna, I am here, ready to take care of everyone, and I am quite aware when that support from Me is necessary,” said Sri Krishna. It is not necessary to call God for everything because He is not merely omnipotent, He is also omniscient. It is not merely that God is capable of doing everything; He also knows what is to be done at what time. And there is a further touch to it: He is everywhere. So there is no question of calling and reminding, etc. That which is everywhere, and also knows everything, need not be beckoned or summoned or told anything, “Please do this.” We have only to open our hearts in gratitude. What kind of gratitude can we show to God? We look like nobodies before that mighty Presence.

I shall tell you another story. God's love for man is greater than man's love for God. This is a startling feature in spiritual history. There was a great saint living in a village who was reputed to be capable of seeing God every day and speaking to Him. In the night he encountered God, and he had a daily conversation with Him. Everyone respected him so much, that this is a person who speaks to God every day. In the daytime he had devotees around him and gave instruction, but in the night he would be speaking to God.

One lady, it is said, who had some distress of her own, was coming every day and prostrating herself before the saint, keeping in his presence a little sweet porridge in a mud vessel, offering her obeisance, and going without uttering a single word as to why she was doing that. The saint also uttered nothing. Every day this was happening. She would come and prostrate herself, keep this porridge, do namaskar, and go away. It appears a year passed when neither she would say anything, nor he would say anything.

After a year the saint asked, “Why are you coming every day and doing this prostration and keeping this porridge before me?”

Then she opened her mouth, it seems, and said, “Great Master, I have heard that you speak to God every night. Would you kindly convey my sorrow to him, and speak my feelings?”

He said, “Yes, I shall.”

“I have no issue. I want one child. This is my sorrow. If possible, speak to God. If God wills, it shall be.”

“I shall speak, yes. I shall speak to God,” he said.

Eagerly the lady went, waiting for the dawn. Then she rushed to the saint and asked, “What is the message from God?”

The saint said, “My respectable mother, what can I tell you? God has said no, you cannot have an issue.”

Her heart was breaking. “If God Himself is not considerate to me, who else will help me? I shall end my life today.” Thus thinking, she did not return home. She ran to the bank of a river, wanting to die, to drown herself in the water. With dishevelled hair she ran, weeping and beating her breast. “I shall not live any more when God Himself is not willing to help me.”

On the way, it appears, she met a spiritual man looking like a crazy one with dishevelled hair, dirty looking. He accosted her. “Mother, where are you running?”

She did not speak. “I do not want to say anything. I am going to die.”

“Why are you going to die?” he asked.

“I do not want to speak to you. Why are you interfering with me?”

Then again he asked, “What is the matter with you? Let me hear one word.”

Then somehow, reluctantly, she uttered the whole story. “God has refused my request. Therefore, there is no point in my living in this world.”

“What is the request, and what was it that God denied?”

“Just a simple, little, petty thing. I want to have an issue. It is not going to be.”

“What is this? For a little thing you cry and want to end your life? How many issues do you want?”

“One,” she said.

“You shall have two. Why are you worrying? Go. I am telling you, you shall have two, not one. Go back home and be happy,” he said.

She could not easily swallow this message because how could a man say something against God Himself? Anyway, a good word is always a good word. A kind word, even from a baby, is solacing. Even if an enemy speaks to me kindly, it shall satisfy my heart. She went back home and gave up the idea of dying. She had, exactly after a year, a little child, and when another year passed, two children. Two years afterwards the lady came to the very same saint who had said that God had refused. She brought the two little babies and made them stand before the saint, with the same porridge once again.

The saint could recognise her, though she came after two years. “Oh, you have come,” he said. “Who are these two little children?”

“Yours. They are your children, Master. They are your children.”

“You have two children?” He could not understand how God could behave in this manner. “He has told me that it is not possible. Now how has this happened? I shall quarrel with God tonight. He has defamed me. My face has become black. What is the matter? Tonight I shall have a quarrel with God.”

That night he faced God. “Lord, what have you done to me? You have made me a fool.”

The Lord said, it seems, “No, my dear boy. I have done nothing. It was true that that lady could not have a child; therefore, your request was not possible. I had told a fact. I love you very much because you are after Me.” This saint was after God, and therefore, God loved him. “You love Me, and therefore, I have love for you. You are perpetually after Me, but that crazy person who said that the lady can have two children was a person after whom I am. Though it is true that you are running after Me, he is the person who I am running after.”

Now, how could there be anyone whom God is pursuing? We want God, but is there any possibility of God wanting somebody? You may say that you cannot understand this situation that God wants any of us, but you will be surprised that God wants every one of us, and we shall have no problems if that great omnipotency is with us. There is nothing which He cannot do for us in critical moments of sorrow, dejection and moods of helplessness, politically, socially, or in any sense of the term, if we really want, if we feel totally helpless and know that we have no capacity of our own. 'Really' is to be underlined. Do not pretend that you want God; you must really want Him, because the question of pretension arises only when you feel that you do have some strength and if His assistance comes, it is an additional strength. That kind of thing will not work. Even before you start thinking, He will know what you are going to think, so no deception is possible here.

In all the illustrations of the lives of saints and devotees, God came at the last moment, at the point of death, as it were, though death did not take place. He will not allow us to die, but it will appear we are going to perish. The prana is going; the last moment has come. At that time a miracle takes place.

Such crucial occasions we read of in the lives of saints and devotees in the epics and the Puranas. God is with us; an Avatara takes place. Incarnation shall be the manner in which God works in this world for the the salvation of mankind. This is a very, very touching message we have at the commencement of the Fourth Chapter of the Bhagavadgita.