Verse 10.1🔗

śri bhagavān uvāca bhūya eva mahā-bāho śṛṇu me paramaṁ vacaḥ I yat te ‘haṁ prīyamāṇāya vakṣyami hita-kāmayā II 10.1 AMaster’s relationship with his disciple is in many forms. Usually it is described in five forms. The most basic relationship between a Master and disciple is that of a Master and a servant, dāsa bhāva. The relationship of Hanumān with Rāma represents this type. Another is the relationship of a mother with her child, vātsalya bhāva, as in the case of Yaśodā to infant Kṛṣṇa. The third is the relationship of a child with the mother, mātru bhāva, like the relation of Rāmakṛṣṇa to Ma Kālī. The fourth relationship is that of friendship, sakha bhāva, feeling that the Master is the closest friend.

The fifth is that of the beloved, madhura bhāva, like the relationship of Radhā to Kṛṣṇa. Here, Kṛṣṇa refers to the fourth relationship, sakha bhāva, as exemplified by His friendship with Arjuna. He is the Master to His disciple Arjuna as well as Arjuna’s friend. Usually, as an individual ego, we see the Whole as our enemy. We are like small waves in a big ocean. However, suddenly, the wave starts thinking that the ocean is its enemy. When it is created, while it exists or when it drops, the wave is connected to the ocean. However, the wave thinks that it is in some way different from the ocean.

Not only that, the wave starts fighting with the ocean. For the wave to realize that it is fully connected to the ocean, it must be consumed by the ocean. The ego must dissolve. The individual identity of the wave must disappear. This is the first step to Enlightenment. We live in the illusion of our self-created identities. Each wave relates to another wave but not to the ocean. It adopts another wave as its father, mother, wife or child and relates with them. However, ultimately, each one of these related waves disappears into the ocean just like the wave itself. If we look at the human body, we can see this oneness so beautifully exemplified.

The human body consists of trillions of cells living in total harmony. The individual cell, though it has intelligence by itself, can survive even if its center, the nucleus, which is considered the central intelligence of the cell, is removed. However, when it is a part of the whole body, it is not the intelligence of the individual cell alone that is at work, but the collective intelligence of the body-mind system that governs. This collective intelligence ensures that this remarkable system of the human body-mind works smoothly. Listen. Enlightened people think they are ordinary. And unenlightened people think they are extraordinary! When we feel that we have undergone maximum suffering, our ego feels good; we feel we are extraordinary.

Only when our enemy is big, we feel big. When our enemy is small, we feel small. For the same reason, if our suffering is big, we feel good and our ego is satisfied. We measure life by the amount of our suffering. That is why we constantly torture others as well as ourselves. Because of our ego, we think that we are extraordinary and that a lot of things happen in this world because of us. We are all unique creations of Existence but we are not responsible for the world. The wave cannot attribute to itself the power of the ocean. It must realize that it is a part of the ocean.

Instead, if it tries to separate itself from the ocean, it is a futile effort. Please be very clear that the world does not run because of us. It runs in spite of us! Fifty years before our birth, don’t you think the world Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 723 was running as it is now? Fifty years hence, do you think the world will stop because you are not here? A proverb says that if the cat closes its eyes, it thinks the whole world has become dark! It thinks because it can’t see the world for those few moments, no one can see it either! Rāmaṇa Mahaṛṣi describes a beautiful story: A man was traveling on a train carrying his luggage on his head.

A fellow passenger asked, ‘Why are you carrying your luggage on your head? You can put it down and sit peacefully.’ The man replied, ‘It would be too heavy for the train!’ Little did he realize that the train was even now not only carrying him, but his luggage as well! In the same way, the Divine not only takes care of you, it also takes care of your mind. But you always think you are taking care of yourself. That is the foolishness of the mind. We are waves of the Divine. We are part of this Whole. We cannot be an isolated existence. We exist in the cosmic Whole just as the wave exists in the vast expanse of the ocean.

The ego gives us the feeling that we are individual, separate and isolated whereas the reality is that we are a part of this Existence, in It and supported by It. Existence Is Your Friend! There are two ways in which we can live. First, we can embrace and welcome reality, in which case our ego or root pattern must dissolve because only then can we face reality. Please understand that this reality is God. God is not some entity hidden in some remote corner of the Universe or in the sky. He is the reality around us. God is not remote, He is immediate. It is unfortunate that this word God is destroyed by the remote meaning of some old man with a long beard sitting in some remote heaven or hell.

If He is sitting in a remote heaven, it is useless hell. God is immediate! Divine is immediate! The second way of living is how most of us live: We create a shell, a dream world around ourselves to defend a false ego which has no substance in reality. This is what is meant by māyā—illusion. Since we are hidden in this capsule of our unreal world with our ego as the center, we cannot feel the immediate presence of God, who is actually the closest to us. The prāṇa (vital energy), the air that we breathe, which is going inside our body and coming out, is not our property.

It is the property of Existence. We do not need air to survive. We need prāṇa to survive. Constantly, we take prāṇa through the air from the Cosmos. If the incoming breath carries more prānā than the outgoing breath, we are going towards life. Then, we expand, we strengthen our body, our energy. If the outgoing breath carries more prānā than the incoming breath, be very clear, we are going towards death. Understand that whatever we think of as our being cannot function, if prāṇa doesn’t go in and come out. Again and again, we think that we end where the physical boundary of our body ends and anything outside that boundary constitutes the external world.

This physical boundary is not our boundary. We think that whatever is outside the physical boundary of our body constitutes Existence and that it is our enemy. Imagine that the sun disappears one day. Do you think we could live without the rays of the sun? If the air were to disappear, will we be able to survive? If we are dependent for our survival on the sun that is billions of miles away, how can our boundary end where the physical boundary of our body ends? Understand, we are deeply related to Existence. We are not completely separate, self-sufficient entities. When we lose sight of the Whole, we become unaware of our links to one another.

Since you consider Existence to be your enemy, you continuously try to protect yourself from others. Look at yourself carefully and you will notice that you always look at people with theattitude, ‘Why has he come? What is he going to take from me? How will he exploit me?’ Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 725 Continuously, you are in a protective mood, trying to protect yourself from others. This is because you feel threatened by the Existence of the other. The moment you think Existence or the Whole is your enemy, you become defensive. Defending is a polite word for offending. All over the world, the military forces of all countries are called defensive armies.

Then who is offending? Every country claims that its army is an army for defending itself. Then who is really offending? When you feel the Whole is your enemy, that everybody except you is your enemy, you spy continuously and fight constantly. The fighting mood creates an increasingly violent feeling in you, with more and more restlessness Listen! The first thing Kṛṣṇa teaches as rājavidya rājaguhyaṁ (secret of all secrets), is that Existence is not your enemy. It responds to your thoughts. It continuously cares for you. It is intelligence. Please listen! If you live with the attitude of enmity with the Whole, even when you live, you will constantly be tortured.

When you live with the feeling of friendliness or sakha bhāva, with the attitude that Existence is your friend, that Existence is your own, you feel a deep easiness. We need to realize that we are part of the same energy system as the Universe. Hindu scriptures describe the five energy elements that comprise Nature: earth, water, fire, air and ether. The human system is a combination of the same elements as the Universe, so are all beings, inanimate and animate. Above all, more than the easiness, you will feel deeply connected to Existence. Even if the wave thinks that it is different from the ocean and starts defending itself from the ocean, ultimately it will fall into the ocean, however much it tries to defend itself!

By its very nature, the wave starts in the ocean, exists in the ocean and falls into the ocean. If it understands that it is a part of the ocean, it will be utterly relaxed. It will live a blissful life. If it fights the fact, it will fight with the ocean. But eventually it has to fall into the ocean. The ultimate secret that Kṛṣṇa wants to reveal is that Existence, Parāśakti, Brahman, is your friend, not your enemy. It is intelligence and it responds to your thoughts. This is the first understanding. Next, in this chapter, Kṛṣṇa says, ‘I am That.’ He says, ‘I am the whole of Existence.’

In the next chapter, He gives the experience of the Cosmic consciousness to Arjuna. These chapters lead Arjuna step-by-step to an elevated consciousness. In the previous chapter, rājavidya rājaguhyaṁ yogaḥ Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Drop your enmity with Existence, against the Universal energy, Brahman and Ātman.’ In this chapter, Vibhūti Yogaḥ, He says, ‘I am the same energy. Not only you don’t need to have enmity, you can have deep love.’ Now, He explains how to feel connected to Existence. In the next chapter, Viśvarūpa Darśana Yoga, He gives the Cosmic experience to Arjuna that He is in the whole Cosmic consciousness. First, He removes enmity, then, He creates the feeling of connectedness, deep friendliness.

Finally, He gives the advaitic (non-dual) experience. These three chapters lead Arjuna step-by-step. They elevate Arjuna from a low level to a higher level. Let us study this scripture, Yogaśāśtra, with intense devotion and deep sincerity. Along with Arjuna, we will grow into completion. We will not miss it. Kṛṣṇa says, ‘For your benefit, because you are My dear friend, I shall speak to you further, giving knowledge that is better than what I have already explained.’ Kṛṣṇa explains His glory not for His own sake but for Arjuna’s sake. Kṛṣṇa does not explain His glory to show His ego. Understand an important thing: The ego of the king is based upon how many people accept him as king.

Suddenly, if all his citizens are taken away from him, what will happen to his kingdom? He will lose the base, he will lose the very idea of kinghood. His ego will be totally shaken. Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 727 Glory of Ātmajñāna (knowledge of the Self) A beautiful happening: A great saint called Dakṣiṇāmūrti Swamigal lived in Tamil Nadu. He lived the life of a Paramahamsa (enlightened one). The sky was all that covered his body. He never wore clothing. He lived like a child, in bliss. One day a king came to meet him. Swami was sitting under a big tree meditating blissfully. The king expected Swami to stand up and receive him with respect.

Swami however did not bother. The king egoistically said, ‘What! You are an ordinary beggar. I am a king. Don’t you know how to respect me?’ The Swami laughed and said, ‘Actually, you are the beggar. You are begging respect from me. You feel respected only when somebody gives you respect. However, I don’t feel respected when somebody gives me respect nor do I feel disrespected when somebody doesn’t give me respect. Whether somebody respects me or not, it is not in any way related to my consciousness. I do not ask you why you are not respecting me.’ Then he continued, ‘Your personality or ego could be shaken if your army and all your ministers leave you.

Oh king, your being is dependent upon somebody else.’ That is why it is said that when Buddha begged for alms, He looked like a king and the kings looked like beggars! Outward possessions cannot make us regal. The inner bliss that radiates makes us regal. Dakṣiṇāmūrti Swamigal says, ‘You are a king as long as your citizens accept you. So naturally, directly or indirectly, you will be begging your citizens to accept you because your consciousness is dependent upon them. In my case, whether somebody accepts or not, I am blissful! I am a Paramahamsa. My Paramahamsa-hood can never be taken away from me. But your kinghood can be taken away from you.

So, be sure that the moment you ask for respect, you are a beggar. I am not.’ A clear truth is that the person whose ego is fed by more and more citizens is a politician. He is an egoistic person. But an enlightened man reveals himself for the sake of the disciple’s understanding. Here, Kṛṣṇa does not speak about Himself out of ego. Whether Arjuna accepts it or not, Kṛṣṇa is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa was in a blissful state even before Arjuna became His disciple. Kṛṣṇa will be in a blissful state even after Arjuna becomes His disciple. Irrespective of whether Arjuna is His disciple or not, Kṛṣṇa is in the same blissful consciousness.

One important thing: In the next chapter, Arjuna says, ‘Oh Kṛṣṇa! Forgive me. I called You by Your community name: ‘Hey Kṛṣṇa, Hey Yādava, Hey Saketi! I called You by Your first name.’ In India, if you are a very close friend to a person, only then you call him by his community name: Yādava (Kṛṣṇa’s community). Arjuna wails, ‘I called You Kṛṣṇa, Yādava and I called You my friend! I called You by these names thinking that You are my friend, a normal human being like me. But now, I understand. You are the God of gods. You are Mahādev (supreme God). Forgive me please, I beg of You!

Please accept me as Your disciple. Forgive me for my ignorance. I did not know Your greatness, please forgive me!’ Because of this statement, Kṛṣṇa’s ego does not become big. Please understand: Kṛṣṇa has all the glory from day one until the very end. Even with all His glory, He allowed Arjuna to call Him by His first names. He never said, ‘Don’t you know who I am? How dare you call me by my first name?’ He never carried a business card! Even when Arjuna was talking to Kṛṣṇa in a friendly way, He was humble. Kṛṣṇa responded to Arjuna in the same way that Arjuna spoke to Him.

Kṛṣṇa is simple and humble. Before the Gītā started, at the time of the Gītā and after the Gītā, Kṛṣṇa is the same, eternally. Only Arjuna Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 729 undergoes a tremendous change. Here, Kṛṣṇa does not explain His glories out of ego. He explains so that Arjuna will understand, intranalyze and experience Him. When Kṛṣṇa says, ‘I am,’ He means the cosmic consciousness, the egoless being and the enlightened energy. Again and again, He expresses the glory of enlightenment, the glory of ātmajñāna (knowledge of the Self). That is why He is so complete and confident. With such clarity, with such integrity and authenticity, He explains, ‘I am Everything.’

Even to utter these words, you need courage. No normal man can say, ‘I am God’ to somebody else. If he does, the next day he will be in a mental asylum with a special seat reserved for him! Here, Kṛṣṇa is courageous enough to declare and the person who is listening experiences it. What is the science? What does it take for an enlightened man to declare himself as enlightened, as Incarnation and as God, Bhagavān? What do we need as a disciple to experience that as the truth? Many hundreds of enlightened Masters declare this truth again and again. Sometimes the people who listen to them become enlightened like Arjuna or Vivekananda.

Sometimes the disciple is hurt and disturbed by the statement and abuses the Master. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa said, ‘The one who came as Rāma, who came as Kṛṣṇa, is residing in this body as Rāmakṛṣṇa.’ He boldly declared this, not when he was healthy, but when he was suffering from throat cancer. These words did something in Vivekananda. It was then that Narendra became Vivekananda. When Kṛṣṇa declared, ‘I am God,’ Arjuna became enlightened. How? What do you need to create this experience? Trust God has Intelligence, and Surrender See, be very clear that the experiences of Kṛṣṇa, Śiva, Buddha and Mahāvīra, are all one and the same. As the enlightenment experience, it is the same.

When they express the enlightenment, why are there different reactions? When they express their enlightenment and declare their divinity, some people become enlightened and some run away. How can we also become enlightened when we listen to Kṛṣṇa’s words? How can we listen? How can we have that benefit? With what mood are we supposed to receive the words? When people who hear this declaration of truth, vibhūti, the glory, are egoistic and aggressive, they abuse the Master. If they are egoistic but not aggressive, they run away. Next, Arjuna, Kṛṣṇa’s disciple, is totally in love with Kṛṣṇa. He has totally surrendered to Kṛṣṇa. He is not ready to suspect anything.

By now, he is clear. His head has stopped working. His logic has stopped analyzing. This truth should be declared only to a person who is totally, intimately related and feeling connected to the Divine. Arjuna has completely surrendered to Kṛṣṇa. What is surrender? When we hear the word ‘surrender’, we think that it is the easiest thing to do since we don’t need to do anything. For example, if we meditate, we need to do something. But if we need to surrender, we think we don’t need to do anything. Hence, we think it is easy. This is because we think about surrender in a totally different way compared to what the Masters mean by the word ‘surrender’.

When we use the word ‘surrender’, we only say that we have surrendered. We do not really surrender. Our faith and surrender are mere words. We delude ourselves thinking we have surrendered. In fact, we have not. Our faith, our surrender is never total surrender. There are three levels of surrender: Surrendering the ‘I,’ surrendering the mind, and finally, surrendering both the ‘I’ and the mind. Surrendering the ‘I’ is surrendering the individual ego. Surrendering the mind is surrendering the mental setup, the root thought patterns. When you truly surrender to the Divine, surrender can work miracles on you. When you offer yourself at the feet of the Master, your ego Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 731 disintegrates.

The mind is just your collection of all thoughts and habit that you have formed. For example, if you get up in the morning, your mind instinctively tells you that you need your morning coffee since that is a habit. Similarly, if you are constantly worried, it becomes a habit and you worry in every situation without realizing it. When someone praises you, you choose to get flattered. If someone criticizes you, you choose to get disturbed. The mental pattern has been etched so deeply that you don’t realize that it is you, who is making the choice of how to react. When you surrender, you cannot choose. A small story: One day, Lord Viṣṇu and goddess Lakṣmī were chatting in a relaxed mood in their abode, Vaikunṭa.

Suddenly, Viṣṇu jumped up from His seat and ran a few yards. Then he made a U-turn and returned to His seat. Lakṣmī was perplexed and asked, ‘Lord, why did You run in the first place? Then, why did You return immediately after running only a few yards?’ Viṣṇu replied, ‘I saw a man in the process of stoning one of My devotees. I ran to help. Then I saw him pick up stones to retaliate. Seeing that, I decided that he did not need My help.’ When you surrender, you cannot choose to react. When you surrender, the egocentric ‘I’ totally disintegrates. Please understand: The egocentric ‘I’ is eccentric.

When you surrender, you will be bubbling with joy and bliss. You will be like a kid. Have you seen an ugly child? Even in the poorest country, the kids are beautiful. On the same count, have you seen a single adult who is beautiful? Enlightened people are like children, bubbling with bliss. They are called dvijā (born again). After the death of the ego, it is a new birth. The father and mother give us our first birth. The second birth is given by God and the Guru. If you understand that Existence is your friend and it deeply cares for you, you will not feel the need to live according to a script for life.

Instead, you will have tremendous courage and trust in yourself to live life spontaneously. Then, instead of re-living life and reacting to life based upon past memories and experiences, you live life with spontaneous responses to situations. If you live in a simple way, you don’t need a script. Please understand, Existence constantly cares for you. Trust the intelligence in you. Be complete and welcome life as it flows. Kṛṣṇa says, ‘If you continuously merge in Me, I will take care of all your needs and necessities. You will be My responsibility.’ In the last chapter Kṛṣṇa promises: yogakṣemaṁ vahāṁyahaṁ: My responsibility is Yoga—to get the things that you need and kṣema—to take care that they remain with you.

Yogakṣemaṁ: He makes this promise. He says, ‘I will take care of you spiritually and materially. You shall not lack anything. You will always be in bliss.’ You may wonder how this is possible. When you surrender to the Divine, your higher consciousness will be activated and you will have the intelligence and courage to live everything. The ultimate intelligence is first understanding that Existence cares for us, and secondly, surrendering to that Existence. Realizing that Existence is not a brute force or power but an intelligent energy, is the key to a life of bliss. When we surrender the mind, we go from ‘mind’ to ‘no-mind’ state. The mind actually arises from possessiveness.

Tantra says that the ego is based upon possessions. Look deeply and we will see that the origin of our mind lies in whatever we think of as ours. Our idea of ‘mine’ creates the sense of ‘I’. Most of us think that from ‘I,’ the ‘mine’ arises. No! It is from the sense of ‘mine’ that ‘I’ arises. The root of the tree of ‘I’ is ‘mine’. We think that if we have more possessions, we have more freedom. Yes, we will have more freedom, but only the freedom to choose between one suffering and another suffering. We can never choose between suffering and joy through possessiveness. How can we enjoy something with the feeling of possessiveness?

We will be in constant fear of losing our possessions. The feeling of ‘mine’ never lets us enjoy anything. Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 733 Just understand. When we surrender ourselves to Existence, it carries us in its very arms. We won’t feel the pain of life. But if we try to calculate things after saying that we have surrendered, we project our mind onto the idea of what will happen after surrender. When we say that we have surrendered, how can we say that nothing has happened in spite of our surrender? If we have truly surrendered, we have no right to expect something to happen after we have surrendered.

A Master was asked, ‘How do I know that I have really surrendered?’ The Master replied, ‘If you have really surrendered, this question itself will disappear. There will be a feeling of utter bliss and relaxation.’ Just surrender everything, not only your pain and suffering but also your responsibility. This does not mean that you stop doing household work or going to office. You continue to do so but with the mood of utter relaxation. Surrendering yourself is a clear, conscious decision. Listen! Total surrender with total responsibility is Living Enlightenment. If we look into our lives, we see that our relating with God is never true surrender. Most of the time, we beg God to give us what we want.

The next stage is when we bargain: If you give me this, I will give you that. The third stage is blaming God: I went to this temple so many times; yet, God has not listened to me. Understand, we don’t have the intelligence to know what we want. If God were to listen to our requests and desires, this world would have perished a long time ago! This game of begging, bargaining and blaming in the name of praying has nothing to do with true devotion. There is a beautiful story in the Mahābhārat: Before the war started, Duryodhana and Arjuna went to Kṛṣṇa’s palace to seek help from Kṛṣṇa for the war.

Both of them were relatives of Kṛṣṇa and wanted Kṛṣṇa’s help. Kṛṣṇa was sleeping. Arjuna, the Pāṇḍavas’ representative, sat at the feet of Kṛṣṇa. Duryodhana, the Kauravas’ representative, sat near the head of Kṛṣṇa. The moment Kṛṣṇa opened His eyes, He saw Arjuna sitting at His feet. He asked him, ‘How are you, Arjuna? When did you come? Arjuna said, ‘I have come to seek your help.’ Kṛṣṇa smiled and assured him, ‘Surely I will help, don’t worry.’ Duryodhana, who was sitting at the head of the bed, demanded from Kṛṣṇa, ‘I came before Arjuna. You should help me first.’ Kṛṣṇa turned and saw Duryodhana. Kṛṣṇa replied, ‘Surely I will help, don’t worry.’

He added, ‘I will be on one side and My powers will be on the other side. And I will not raise weapons in this war. As Arjuna first came in front of Me, he gets to choose, first. Which one do you want, Arjuna?’ Arjuna thought, ‘Let us have buddhi (intelligence).’ He was happy to have just Kṛṣṇa, Nārāyaṇa on his side. Duryodhana thought, ‘Let us have śakti (power).’ He replied, ‘I will have your powers and weapons, Nārāyaṇi senā.’ Obviously, the Pāṇḍavas were the ones who won the war. If you have a Master like Kṛṣṇa with you, you can conquer even Duryodhana’s sena (army)! You can win any number of warriors.

All the warriors of the Kauravas’ side are your sufferings, your root thought patterns, your ‘mine’ and ‘I’. Kṛṣṇa alone is enough! He will finish them off. But, when you don’t have Kṛṣṇa on your side, any struggle you try to do, any plan you try to do, it will be failure. There are only two possibilities: either you choose Nārāyaṇa or you choose Nārāyaṇi senā, either you are in peace or in piece-piece. You can bring peace to you or piece-piece to you. The man who chose intelligence, the man who trusted God, had intelligence, had peace and won the war. Arjuna won the game of life. Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 735 He had Nārāyaṇa, God Himself who is the source of all the powers, the source of Nārāyaṇi senā.

The man who chose just the power was in piecepiece. Duryodhana neither remained with power nor with God. If we look deeply into what kind of a relationship we have with God, we will see that when we pray, we think that God has the power, śakti to give but He does not have the intelligence or wisdom, buddhi to know what to give. This is what we believe when we insist that He gives us what we want right now. If we trust God has only power, śakti, we never win in life. When we trust He also has intelligence, buddhi, we surrender. Only then things can start happening.

When we surrender, we believe that God has power and intelligence. When we believe God has only power, religion starts. When we believe He has wisdom, spirituality starts. When we believe He has only power, we do rituals and pamper Him. We start doing all possible things to continuously bribe Him to give us what we want. We go to the temple and tell the priest not only our name but our father’s name, our forefathers’ names, and so on. Do we think God doesn’t know where we are from and who we are? Understand, your whole life is nothing but Mahābhārat. In your life of Mahābhārat, victory or failure, who is going to win or lose is going to be decided only based on which side you are going to side; whether you are going to side your Consciousness or your unconsciousness, your Completion or incompletion.

Listen, whichever side Kṛṣṇa sided would have won the game. Kṛṣṇa is Consciousness! Kṛṣṇa is Completion! Please listen. Decide consciously that from this moment, you will surrender everything at the feet of God, to the energy that runs this whole world. We don’t need to believe in any name or form. Trust the energy pervading the Universe and trust it to run your life. Now, even after we surrender, at some time, a doubt will naturally arise in us whether we have totally, actually surrendered. Understand that the divine intelligence gave us the intelligence to surrender in the first place and that same divine intelligence has given us this doubt to doubt our surrender.

Surrender the doubt also at the feet of the divine energy. So, do not wait to change and become perfect before surrendering. No! Surrender yourself as you are, consciously, totally. Surrender deeply and your whole being will be flooded with new bliss. True Love Is Divinity Kṛṣṇa says, Because you are My dear friend, you are deeply connected to Me, I am revealing this truth to you. bhūya eva mahā-bāho śṛṇu me paramaṁ vacaḥ I yat te ‘haṁ prīyamāṇāya vakṣyami hita-kāmayā II 10.1 Let me explain a few basic things. Actually, when we feel deeply connected to some person, the person will almost look like God. Whether it is our spouse, kids, parents or our Master, he will look like God.

Whatever he does, we will feel that he is divine. When we feel deeply connected, when we are in love with another being, that other being will look almost like God. Look at the great Mīrābāi. She was so much in love with Kṛṣṇa who was not even physically in front of her. Yet, she felt so deeply connected to Him. She talked to Him, sang His praises and became totally immersed in Him. When Mirābāi was given poison, she even drank that, totally surrendering herself to Kṛṣṇa. The power of her love and devotion was such that even a deadly poison had no effect on her! We have forgotten how to connect through the heart.

All our relationships have become superficial. Now, the wife is no more a wife. In the modern day society, the husband is no more a husband. He is just a boyfriend. Be very clear: In Saṃskṛit, we don’t have an equivalent word for divorce. The idea never existed! In Hindu marriage, no divorce is allowed. Both take an oath in front of agni (fire), ‘As long as you are alive, as long as I am alive, I will support and enrich you.’ With the cultural invasion of the so-called developed cultures, the materialistic cultures, changing the Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 737 wife, house and car has now become a fashion.

Once in three months, the house, car and wife become outdated. The outer world is a projection of the inner world and the eye projects it. Whatever is visible as the outer world is a mere projection. We try without success to change things in the outer world. Our frustration and depression are due to our attempt to manipulate the screen rather than the projector. We fantasize about a holiday on a beautiful beach in Hawaii as ultimate bliss. However, when it happens, our thoughts are not of the beach but of our office and deadlines! I tell people that if we sit in the house and worry, it is homework.

If we sit in the office and worry, it is work and if we sit on the beach and worry, it is vacation! The mind is the same incomplete mind, only the location is different. How can we change the incomplete mental state by changing the place? In Saṃskṛit, we have two beautiful words: pravṛitti and nivṛitti. Pravṛitti means the incompletions that you carry, leading you to more and more incompletions. The incompletion you carry makes you do many actions, which lead you to do more and more incompletions. That is pravṛitti. Nivṛitti means the completion that you carry, leading you to more and more completion.Your actions should be nivṛitti based not pravṛitti based.

You need to change the state of incompletion to completion. When you begin to change the state, you work directly with the projector and make progress from completion to more completion, nivṛitti. Working with the projector is the process of completion. But changing your status is like working with the screen and associating with your incompletions that lead to more incompletions, pravṛitti. Changing your wife, your house or car is like working with the screen and it does not enrich you. Changing your mind by completing with your patterns, your relationships and therefore your fantasies is the only way. Your actions should be nivṛitti based not pravṛitti based. When we don’t pass judgment on life, on others and on us, we reach the state of non-resistance, the state of completion, the state of compassion.

When intelligence happens, we reach the stage of non-resistance leading to completion. When we welcome people and situations from the space of completion, compassion happens. Beloved means being loved, not ‘body love.’ What is the difference between intellect and intelligence? Intellect is always prejudiced. Intelligence is always fresh. When we pass judgment and collect evidence to substantiate our decision, it is intellect. When we first collect evidence and pass judgment without bias or prejudice, it is intelligence. Look into your life and see how your mind works out of incompletions and creates conflicting images about you, about others, and about life! How do you act in your daily life? The vast majority of the time, your judgment is ready.

For example, after living with your wife for a few months, you create a concept, an inadequate life image or svānyakāra about her. Then, whatever she does, you pick only those arguments that are necessary for your already formed judgment. Whenever we think too much of ourselves, we believe only in our judgments and lay the blame on others. When we start completing with ourselves and others, we create a new inner image about ourselves, a new mamakāra. We understand that we are simple, complete beings, we start seeing the arguments clearly before passing judgment and restore our integrity and authenticity. Actually, we have forgotten how to relate through the heart, the intense way of relating.

Our relationships have become superficial. We don’t really know the meaning of the term, ‘falling in love.’ Whenever Rāmakṛṣṇa worshipped, did pūjā, he felt that Devi was present. He never felt that the statue was a stone. He spoke to Kāli Devi directly. When we deeply fall in love, even a stone can become God and guide us. When we don’t feel connected, even if God comes down, we will ask for His business card! Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 739 Let me tell you a beautiful happening from Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa’s life: Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was the priest in the Devi temple. He used to taste the food before offering it to Devi.

All the temple authorities told him, ‘No! You cannot do this. That is sacrilegious.’ Rāmakṛṣṇa said, ‘I don’t know all these things. I feel that She is my Mother. How can I offer the food unless I know that it tastes good? And if you don’t want me to offer, I will stand outside and offer. But, I will offer.’ They agreed, ‘Alright, do whatever you want.’ Not only that, when he decorated the idol of Devi, he placed a small thread near Her nose to see whether She was breathing or not, alive or not. And the history says, the thread moved due to Devi’s breath. He felt Devi everywhere.

When we feel deeply connected, when we know how to surrender, then even a stone can become God and guide us. Feel Deeply Connected to KṚṣṆa Now, all we need is the mood of being deeply in love with Kṛṣṇa, deeply connected to Kṛṣṇa, deeply related to Kṛṣṇa. If we can open ourselves to Kṛṣṇa when He describes His glories, His vibḥūti, it will not be words. We will feel it. First,Kṛṣṇaremovedtheenmitybetweenjivātma(Self)andparamātma (supreme Self). Arjuna is the jivātma. Kṛṣṇa is the paramātma. We may not be aware but we continuously maintain enmity with paramātma, Existence. That is why we suspect life. We have fear about what will happen in the next moment.

We are afraid of life because we don’t believe what is going to happen the next moment will enrich us. We don’t trust Existence. All life insurance policies are only because we don’t trust Existence. Understand that life insurance is not life insurance. It is death insurance. Real life insurance is devotion to the Ultimate. Understanding that Existence is taking care of us is the only real life insurance. All other things are death insurance that goes to our families who are waiting for it! A small story: A young child was playing on the beach. He wanted to wade into the ocean. His mother ran after him and said, ‘Don’t go into the ocean.

Play in the sand. Don’t go into the water.’ The boy asked, ‘Why? Daddy is going into the water. Why are you not stopping him? You are stopping me.’ The mother said, ‘He is insured!’ So please be very clear: All our insurance is death insurance. It is not life insurance.Understanding thatExistence istaking careofusandthatitisnot our enemy is the only life insurance we need. One more thing: When we have the deep love—the connection with Existence, even when we die, we know that He knows where to keep us. We will be utterly relaxed as we know He will protect and guide us. So now itself, our mind should be prepared to fall in tune with this energy; to obey, to surrender to the ultimate will.

Now itself, our body and mind should be prepared. If we live life fighting with Existence, our life will be hell. Nothing else can be done. All we need to do is know how to feel connected. First, Kṛṣṇa removes the enmity between the individual Self and Existence. Now, He explains the glory of Existence. Next, He gives the experience that the individual Self and the supreme Self are the same. Step-by-step,HeleadsArjunafromviśiṣiṭādvaita(aschoolofthought which says that the individual self is a part of Existence, with its own attributes) to dvaita (duality, a school of thought which says that the individual self is separate from Existence), to advaita (non-duality, truth that the individual self is Existence), to beyond advaita into anubhūti, experience.

He leads Arjuna to a spiritual experience step-by-step. I spoke earlier about the three essential identities in our lives. These are: Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 741 jīva—individual Self; jagat—the world in which this self lives, and Iśvara—creator of jīva and jagat, or in other words God. Initially, we see these three as separate entities, just as the water drop sees itself as separate from the ocean. There are different approaches in Hindu philosophy as to how the individual Self can reach the Creator, the Divine. The concepts of viśiṣiṭādvaita and dvaita are based on a separation between the Self and the Creator, with deep devotion connecting the two.

Devotion leads the Self to the Divine and an understanding of the Divine. Yet they remain separate. It is like the water drop realizing it is part of the ocean and yet separate. Advaita philosophy integrates the Self and the Creator into one non-dual entity, of which jagat, the world, forms a part. So the three seemingly separate entities merge into oneness. Advaita says that separation is an illusion, māyā, and that true realization of the non-dual aspect of the Self and the Divine leads to liberation and Enlightenment. These are different ways of looking at the same truth. None of them is wrong. Kṛṣṇa leads Arjuna from the concept of separation into the understanding of integration.

Kṛṣṇa makes Arjuna understand that nothing stands between him and Kṛṣṇa, except his level of understanding of the space of completion. Please be very clear: These are not contradictory. Many people ask me, ‘Swamiji, is dvaita or advaita right? Is viśiṣiṭādvaita or dvaita right?’ They are not contradictory. They complement each other. They lead us step-by-step to more and more understanding of completion. They lead us step-by-step to the ultimate spiritual experience. Listen! Completion makes us understand that we are connected with the whole Universe – this is the essence of viśiṣṭādvaita. Completion makes us understand that we are deeply connected to the paramātma (supreme Self)—this is the essence of dvaita.

Completion makes us understand that we are not one, but we are the ultimate infinity with each one infinitely powerful, which is the essence of advaita. In India, this clash between advaita and dvaita is a big fight. Is the Śankara bhāṣya (Śankara’s commentary) big or is Rāmanuja bhāṣya big? Śankara was the founder of advaita philosophy and Rāmanuja founded the dvaita philosophy. All Enlightened Masters speak the same thing in different ways. If we surrender, we will have the same experience of advaita-anubhav, non-duality experience. If we achieve the non-duality experience, we will have deep surrender. The man who has achieved advaita-anubhava has tremendous devotion. For example, the verse of Śankara says: bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ govindaṁ bhaja mūḍhamate samprāpte sannihite kāle nahi nahi rakṣati ḍukṛñkaraṇe Śankarasays,‘OhFool!MayyoustartmeditatingonGovinda(Kṛṣṇa’s name) now.

May you start remembering Govinda now. Nahi nahi rakṣati ḍukṛñkaraṇe means: When Yamadharma, the Lord of death comes, intellectual knowledge will not help you or protect you. A great advaita-jñāni, sage of non-duality experience, will be a great devotee. And a great devotee will be an advaita-jñāni! Both are one and the same. Only those who have not realized the experience argue. If you go inside dvaita and advaita philosophies, both show the same knowledge, wisdom and experience. All we need to know is how to open ourselves and surrender to this Existence. Then we will experience at the level of our being that Existence is taking care of us.

Please be very clear: If Existence doesn’t want us here, we cannot be here even for a single moment. There is no reason for Existence to keep us alive. If it is keeping us alive, we are wanted in this form, in this way, in this place. That is why we are still alive. God continuously cleans all the garbage. He never waits. Everyday He clears away all the old things. He is the perfect energy that maintains cleanliness. They say that cleanliness is next to Godliness. I say that cleanliness is Godliness. It is not next to Godliness. Trust Existence and Radiate Divine Grace Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 743 Unless we are needed, we will not be kept alive.

Just by being alive, He proves that we are needed. We are wanted. We are not an accident; we are an incident. Don’t think that we are alive as an accident. We are an incident. When we understand that we are an incident, we feel deeply connected. We open ourselves to Existence. I tell people: Trust, even if you are exploited. You may say, ‘What is this, Swamiji? What kind of teaching are you giving? You are asking us to trust even if we are exploited.’ Be very clear: There are two kinds of lives. One is living completely with trust and the other is living completely with an insecure feeling.

The person who lives in insecurity may have more wealth. He may have two or three more beds, a little bigger house, yet he can never rest. The person who lives with the insecure consciousness may have more comfort but he will never be blissful. On the other hand, the person who lives with deep trust in Existence may have less comfort but he never misses that comfort. People who trust Existence are always showered with blessings. They will live like God on planet earth. They will be a blessing for the whole planet. The Earth is alive because of a few people who live radiating this trust, who live radiating the divine grace.

We should trust, even if we are exploited. After all, we are going to live on this earth for a maximum of seventy to eighty years. In those years, why should we continuously suffer? If we defend ourselves because of our insecurity, we will not only offend others but we will also miss the joy of living on planet Earth. According to the Hindu purāṇic histories, Śrī Veda Vyāsa lived longer than any other man. Someone asked why he didn’t build a house. Vyāsa replied, ‘After all, I am only going to live for a few years. Why should I build a house? Why waste my time?’ If we can, let us live with the completely relaxed mood of deep trust.

Our presence will be a blessing. Our existence will save planet Earth. No matter what crosses our path, we will just be living, enjoying, and enriching everything. It is a blessing. What have we brought here to lose? Our insecure consciousness is nothing but ignorance of the truth. What are we going to carry with us after death? Nothing! A simple truth: Neither have we brought anything nor are we going to take back anything. While we are here we can relax and trust that Existence will provide for us. If the energy moving inside our body can convert bread into blood, can’t it bring bread to us? The big problem is that we don’t trust our energy.

We don’t trust the cosmic energy. When it can convert bread into blood, can’t it help us with our small things? Can’t it give us the intelligence to bring bread, sustenance into our lives? It can guide us. It can give us enough intelligence to bring bread for our life. When the energy can move planets and run the whole Universe, can’t it take care of us? Let me narrate to you a real incident: Śāradā Devi, the consort of Rāmakṛṣṇa, opened a charitable hospital in Calcutta. There were two counters: one counter where medicines were given free for the poor and another for people who could afford to buy medicines.

One employee of the hospital complained to Śāradā Devi, ‘Mother, even rich people stand in the counter for the poor and take advantage of the free medicines. What should we do about this?’ Śāradā Devi replied, ‘Don’t be concerned. When a rich man stands in the line for the poor, be assured that he is also poor, and give him medicines. Even if he has money, he is a poor man. He has come here as a beggar.’ She makes a beautiful statement, ‘Outer wealth doesn’t make one rich or poor. It is the inner space that matters. If you live with trust, even if you are exploited, even if you Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 745 lose your comforts of the outer world, you will live like God on this planet Earth.

You will simply float. You will become a divine person.’ I am asking you to trust Existence, not based upon my intellectual knowledge but from my personal experience. If you trust my words, when you trust Existence and relax from your tensions, headaches, worries and problems, be sure that you will be taken care of. Miracles will happen in your life. When you put your energy totally on trust, an alchemy takes place in you. Understand, when you surrender, there is utter relaxation in you and your responsibilities are shifted to a higher authority. This is surrender. Do your duty and leave all of the responsibility to Existence. She will take care!

So we have two choices: We can live offending and defending continuously. Even if we have comfort, our being will carry a wound. Or we can lead a totally relaxed life with utter freedom and complete trust in Existence. We can have physical, mental, emotional and psychological freedom. We can have liberation here and now. The moment we live with trust, we are liberated. Nothing hurts us anymore. If we live with the truth, we beautifully live even our death because we trust that Existence will take care of us even then. If we live without trust, we will be killed by the fear of death. Every moment, we will be dying.

With trust, even in our death, we will be living, celebrating! Here, if we can relax and feel deeply connected to what Kṛṣṇa says, we will experience the state that Kṛṣṇa is now going to express about His glories in Yoga of His Divine Manifestations, Vibhūti Yogaḥ. I Am The Source