Verses 16.4–16.7🔗

What is demonic nature? Kṛṣṇa says that all actions done out of arrogance, out of pride, out of ego, for name and fame, and for power, are demonic in nature. As in the case of Rāvaṇa, they benefit neither the person himself nor others. Their actions are performed out of ignorance, and ultimately lead to their own downfall. I have seen many people do penance like Rāvaṇa (King of Lankā who abducted Rāma’s wife Sītā, in the Indian epic, the Ramāyaṇa). Rāvaṇa did penance; however, his powers neither helped him nor others. He became a demon for others and for himself. He killed others, and finally destroyed himself. His penance was done with the attitude of ‘me’ and ‘what is there in it for me?’

The whole history happened to strengthen the ‘I’ and ‘mine’. Daivāsura Sampad Vibhāga Yogaḥ You And Me 1145 Please understand that whatever we do, whether we study the scriptures, do charity or social service, or perform pūjā (prayer), rituals or meditation, if they are done to strengthen the ‘I’ and ‘mine’, they always lead to suffering. Focusing on the ‘I’ is instinctive. It is a call for survival. It is a call for our survival based on our conditioning and insecurities. The instinct to survive is what is called ‘I’, and the instinct to possess is what is referred to as ‘mine’. The person who understands that both are illusions is a complete person.

Such a person realizes that the instinct to survive does not help, and no matter what one may have, one still cannot survive forever. The instinct to survive is pure illusion. At the most we can survive perhaps for 70 to 80 years. Sometimes a person lives to be 90 to 100 years with the same identity. Yet the instinct to survive tries to extend itself. It wants to make life eternal. No one wants to die. Naturally we are then walking towards suffering. As long as we carry this instinct to survive, we repeatedly hurt ourselves. One morning an ashramite complained that she is hurt by small and well-meaning criticisms from others.

She said she is sensitive. I asked her to stop using that word. I said, ‘You are not sensitive. A sensitive person is porous; he allows the words to pass through him. Only arrogant people get hurt. If we are hurt, please understand that we are arrogant. We are impenetrable like stone, which is why words come and hit us. Don’t say that you are sensitive.’ A sensitive person lets words pass through him. He never suffers. Suffering is from arrogance, never from sensitivity. A person who is sensitive never suffers. We suffer from words when we stop them, when we resist them, when we make our own meaning out of them.

When we do not make meanings out of words, we do not suffer. It is like playing with words. We choose nice words to support our ego. We do not say, ‘I am hurt because I am arrogant.’ We use polished words such as, ‘I am hurt because I am sensitive.’ Please don’t cheat yourself with words that lack integrity. Let straight integrated words be used. Let us be integrated about what we mean. Let us use the same integrated words to express what we really are and what we really feel. Rāmakṛṣṇa says, ‘Let your words and mind be straightened.’ From Survival to Gratitude In our Inner Awakening program, we have a meditation replicating the ‘death experience’.

It is based on my personal experience of death. People feel frightened to enter into the meditation, but on coming out of the experience, they feel completely reborn and complete. They say, ‘I have been postponing many things; now I have decided that when I go back, I will complete those things.’ Naturally these people become integrated and authentic when they come out of the death meditation. They understand the value of relationships and do completion with others. Many people report that after that meditation, they began respecting their spouses; they do not take them for granted anymore. When we think of the possibility of death, we will never take life or our spouse for granted.

We will start really living an enriching life. Similarly, when there is a possibility that our good health may be taken away from us, after this meditation, we will not take our health for granted; we will start living life with integrity and authenticity. We will realize the gift of life that Existence has bestowed upon us. Yama gave relationships, wealth, and finally Enlightenment to Naciketa. When people come out of the darkness or death meditation in the program, they tell me that they understand the real meaning of relationships; this means Yama has blessed them completion with others! They know the value of their wealth now; it means Yama has blessed them completion with wealth.

They realize that life is the ultimate blessing. They understand that the body may die and that there is something beyond the body and mind that exists in them; that is what I call ātmajñāna (Self-knowledge). Here, when Kṛṣṇa speaks of fearlessness, He means, ‘Face it, face the Daivāsura Sampad Vibhāga Yogaḥ You And Me 1147 fear, only then fearlessness can happen.’ Only when we face the instinct to survive and the instinct to possess and experience completion, will we enter the space of fearlessness. Until then it can never happen. You can face and complete with the instinct for survival or the instinct for possession only by making decisions based on the concept of ‘You’, not on the concept of ‘me’.

As long as you act, speak and think centered on ‘me, me, me’, you will be a demon; you will work out of the instinct for survival and possession. When you work based on the space of ‘You, you, you,’ you will radiate a new energy, the energy of enriching. Try this simple experiment: Try living for others’ sake out of gratitude for just one week. Try to live with the new root-cognition of ‘You’. I am not asking you to give away your property or any such thing. Please catch this principle of root cognition. Basically, what you strongly believe as you is root cognition. Usually we think, ‘What is there in this for me?’

For example, if your wife calls you up to see a movie, you say, ‘No, I want to go to the beach.’ You always force your preference. Just for one week, in your office, in your house, wherever you go, decide and be with the new root cognition of ‘you’ instead of ‘me’. Try this with simple, day-to-day life decisions. Immediately the mind thinks, ‘If I start thinking based on ‘you’, people will take me for granted, people may exploit me, people may cheat me.’ Alright, that is fine. Now nobody is cheating you. You are living centered on the idea of ‘me’. You are protecting yourself. Are you happy?

Come on, be frank, are you happy? Not really! So why not then give a chance to be centered on the root cognition of ‘You’? We live all our life with this ‘āsuri sampat,’ what Kṛṣṇa calls demonic nature, the inauthentic attitude of ‘me, me, me’. Living Beyond ‘Me’ Now, for just one week, put that ‘You’ into your being. You will not know from where the bliss suddenly comes! Suddenly you will feel that your whole being is relaxed. When you don’t give attention to ‘me’, you will never be ‘in tension’. When you replace your root cognition of ‘me’ with ‘You’, a deep inner healing, a deep completion happens in you.

Please understand, completing with the root cognition is completing with self-doubt. What I am talking about is not morality. Please don’t think I am teaching you how to live happily. I am not the person to teach ‘How-to stuff.’ I am giving this as a spiritual practice. Listen. I am not just teaching you the science of success; I am teaching you the science of deathlessness! I am not just teaching you the science of Ānanda (bliss). I am teaching you the science of Nithya (immortality). If you thing you are really a seeker, then do this one spiritual practice for seven days. If you think there is any way I can enrich you, take this single statement and forget about everything else.

Work based on this single statement: instead of deciding based on the default root cognition of ‘me, me, me’, decide based on the new root cognition of ‘You, You, You’. You will become a hollow bamboo. Whenever you become a hollow bamboo, you are a flute in the hands of the Divine. Whatever happens through you will be divine; you will imbibe the divine nature. Kṛṣṇa further explains step-by-step how to imbibe Divine nature: How to cause the cognitive shift at the deep, subtle level of our root cognitions. Please understand that working at the level of satva (equanimity), rajas (aggression), or tamas (slothfulness) is difficult. It is akin to changing all the servants in order to change the master.

We will never be able to do that. Just change the master and all the servants will be transformed. Here, Kṛṣṇa gives the technique to change the master, the ego or the root patterns that makes decisions. He gives the straight technique for the cognitive shift to happen. At present, the root cognition happens in Daivāsura Sampad Vibhāga Yogaḥ You And Me 1149 us keeping the ‘I’ as the center; He gives a simple technique to replace the ‘I’ with ‘You’ so that the cognitive shift happens. This same system will be used for the Divine nature. Rāma and Rāvaṇa in the Hindu epic Rāmāyaṇa, are both energetic; both have the brahmāstra (high energy weapon).

The only difference is that one is centered on the root cognition of ‘I’; the other one is centered on the root cognition of ‘you.’ That is the only thing that makes one person Divine and the other demonic. Rāma is Divine, Rāvaṇa is demonic. Please understand, first you need to find out whether your thinking is acting as divine inside you or as a demon inside you. Whether your thinking is acting as a god inside you or as a ghost inside you! Sometimes, many of you are possessed by a ghost. What is that ghost? ‘me, me, me’. Kṛṣṇa goes further to give subtle techniques to experience the consciousness of ‘You’, the ultimate consciousness, the consciousness of the Whole, the ‘daivika saṁpat’ or divine nature of your being through this root cognitive shift.

Step-by-step Kṛṣṇa explains all these great qualities. As I mentioned, please don’t try to practice these qualities as a separate effort. The more we try to practice these separately, the more schizophrenic we will become. We will be fighting with ourselves. Enrich others with the space of ‘You’ which will naturally make you express these divine qualities in life. Enriching will be just your lifestyle. You will understand that enriching the ‘You’ enriches the ‘I’ back. Enriching others enriches you back. Experientially you will understand that ‘you’ is one with others, others are one with you. Automatically you will become blissful, free from anger and full of dhārmic (righteous) qualities.

Ramaṇa Mahaṛṣi says beautifully, ‘When you don’t ask, you will be given.’ I tell people, ‘When you don’t tell what good things you do, I will tell.’ When people do things for the āśram but do not tell anyone about them, I tell the whole world about them. However, when they tell, I keep quiet. When you don’t do from the ‘I’, you won’t feel like something is being taken away from you. Above all, you will feel tremendous fulfillment, what I call the space of completion. Anything you do with the space of ‘you’ will make you radiate these beautiful, divine qualities. Serving is not always Devotion Even Yaśodā (the foster mother of Kṛṣṇa) had the idea of ‘I’.

Let me tell you a lovely history. It is about a great Kṛṣṇa devotee named Taraṅgiṇi. It is a wonderful expression of love; the ‘I’ and ‘you’ are expressed truly here. The history goes that within twelve hours of Kṛṣṇa’s birth, He was handed over to Yaśodā. He took birth at midnight, and before sunrise, He was brought to Yaśodā. This was because of a prophecy that Kamsa, His uncle, would come to kill Him at sunrise. Yaśodā brought Him up until He left his home, Vriṇdāvan. Despite her bringing Him up, when Yaśodā asked Him to sing or play the flute, He would not play. However, when Taraṅgiṇi, a devotee of Kṛṣṇa from a lower caste asked Kṛṣṇa to play, He would play for her.

She would stand in a corner and would not come in front of Him. She would quietly enjoy His presence and music from a distance. Once Kṛṣṇa had gone, Taraṅgiṇi would touch the dust in the place where He had stood and played. One day Kṛṣṇa forgot the flute and went away. Of course, He did not forget, He must have pretended to have forgotten it. Would Kṛṣṇa forget? He would make others forget, but He would never forget anything! He pretended to have forgotten the flute. Taraṅgiṇi noticed the flute and with love and care, kept it in her home to hand over to Kṛṣṇa. The next day Kṛṣṇa said, ‘Someone has taken My flute.’

Daivāsura Sampad Vibhāga Yogaḥ You And Me 1151 He pretended to search for it. He learned that Taraṅgiṇi had the flute and went to her house. Since He was from a higher caste, He needed a reason to go to the area of the lower community people. Yaśodā would ask Him why he had gone there. She would punish Him, since higher caste people did not go to that area. Kṛṣṇa went to the area which was full of mud, dirty roads, and a hut in which a thousand suns were shining, meaning that there were a thousand holes in the hut! Kṛṣṇa entered the house and asked for His flute.

Taraṅgiṇi was totally shaken to see Kṛṣṇa in her house. She was overwhelmed; she was unable to speak. She ran and brought the flute to Him. Kṛṣṇa continued His divine act, līlā, asking if He should play the flute. And who can refuse when Kṛṣṇa asks? She replied, ‘My Lord, even Gods and Ṛṣis come down to listen to Your music, how can I say no?’ He sat on the steps, and started playing; she sat in a corner filled with ecstasy. Yaśodā arrived at that moment. She felt terribly upset because He had never played the flute for her. She said, ‘I take care of you; I give you food and look after you completely.

You never play for me. Yet you come and play here for this urchin girl!’ Please understand that the space of Taraṅgiṇi is ‘you’ and the space of Yaśodā is ‘me’. Due to this, all Yaśodā’s enriching service had no positive result for her. Since Yaśodā disturbed him, Kṛṣṇa stopped playing. The tune that Kṛṣṇa played to Taraṅgiṇi is known as punnagavarali, ‘the broken tune’. Kṛṣṇa told Yaśodā, ‘You served Me, no doubt, but with the space of ‘I’. Taraṅgiṇi is devoted to Me; you are devoted to yourself. As long as I am your Kṛṣṇa, you take care of Me; that means you are devoted to yourself, you are centered on yourself and not on Me.

That is why you are unable to digest five minutes of separation.’ This is the instinct to possess. Kṛṣṇa continued, ‘You have come all the way here; you are not even giving five minutes of My space to her. Taraṅgiṇi never asked Me to come to her house. She never expected that I would play for her. She is totally dedicated, with only the space of ‘you’.’ Then Kṛṣṇa blessed Taraṅgiṇi uttering, ‘You will have sāmīpya mukti; you will become a shanbaga flower and reside in My garland. You will stay with Me forever.’ There are four muktis or levels of liberation: sālokya mukti, sārūpya mukti, sāmīpya mukti and sāyujya mukti.

Sālokya means ‘same place’; it means we will be allowed to stay in Vaikunṭa, Viṣṇu’s abode. We will have a residence in heaven. Sārūpya means we will have the same form as the Lord. For example, we can see Jaya-Vijaya, the gatekeepers of heaven; they have the same ṣankh (conch), cakra (discus), gadā (mace), padma (lotus)—all the accessories of Viṣṇu in the same svarūpa (form). Sāmīpya (being near) is being in the inner circle; the cakra that Viṣṇu is carrying has achieved sāmīpya mukti! Becoming enlightened oneself is sāyujya mukti. Sāmīpya mukti is the best Enlightenment because we can enjoy Him forever! It is like an ant forever enjoying the sugar candy.

Sāyujya mukti is like becoming the sugar candy. This is for all the ṛṣis. For devotees, the ultimate state is sāmīpya mukti. So Kṛṣṇa blessed Taraṅgiṇi with sāmīpya mukti. He said, ‘May you become a flower in My garland and be on My body. May you be on Me.’ He then turned to Yaśodā and said, ‘Because you served with the cognition of ‘me, me, me’, may you not have any Daivāsura Sampad Vibhāga Yogaḥ You And Me 1153 temple on planet Earth.’ Yaśodā served Kṛṣṇa so much, but have you seen a single Yaśodā temple? No! Everywhere you see Rādhā temples. If you go to Vriṇdāvan, Rādhā is worshipped more than Kṛṣṇa.

Even a milkman when selling milk will call out, ‘Rādhe, Rādhe,’ not ‘Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa.’ Despite all her service, since it was centered on ‘me’, Yaśodā was unable to achieve Enlightenment. On the other hand, Taraṅgiṇi, being born of a lower community, was never even close to Kṛṣṇa. She was not allowed to serve Him; however, because she lived with the enriching space of ‘you, you, you’, Kṛṣṇa went to her home, blessed her with eternal closeness to Him, and gave her liberation. Even if they run after the Divine, people with the root cognition of ‘I’ can never reach the Divine, because the Divine runs away from them. If we live with the root cognition of ‘you’, even if we live in a hut with a thousand holes, Kṛṣṇa waits for us at our doorstep.

Many stories illustrate how the ‘I’ drives the Divine away, and the ‘you’ attracts the Divine. One small shift in our inner space, can take care of the cognitive shift. How we are centered and where our inner space is focused is what makes our life demonic or divine. Divine or demon is determined only by one concept: ‘You’ or ‘me’. Are you Divine or Demonic? Now, here is another important point. After hearing about ‘You’ and ‘me’, the next thought that may come to our mind is, ‘Swamiji, I do not know whether I am working based on root cognition of ‘You’ or based on ‘me’. I am worried about whether I am a demon or divine.

Please guide me, tell me, based on which quality I am working.’ Let me assure you that if this fear arises in you, you are divine. The person who is ready to look into his mind, the person who is afraid about whether he is living rightly or wrongly, always lives rightly. Only the person who is arrogant is demonic. The person who is demonic never considers whether he does right or wrong. He thinks that he is always right. Arjuna also has that fear, ‘Bhagavān, am I living with Divine or demonic nature?’ He is not expressing that feeling, but his face reveals his fear. daivī sampad vimokṣāya nibandāyāsuri matā I mā śucaḥ sampadaṁ daivīm abhijāto ‘si pāṇḍava II 16.5 Now Lord Kṛṣṇa explains that living with transcendental qualities, that is the right space of ‘you’, one achieves liberation or Enlightenment— nivṛitti.

By living with the space of ‘I’ we create more bondage. The demonic qualities make for bondage, meaning pravṛitti. Lord Kṛṣṇa assures Arjuna that he is born with Divine qualities. If we have ever contemplated whether we were living with ‘You’ or ‘I’, if the doubt ever arose, if we have suffered, if we have felt fear or guilt, be clear that we are born with divine nature. On the other hand, if we feel that we are living properly, and that we came here because we had no other entertainment, with the thought, ‘Let me listen to whatever master is saying,’ if we have that attitude, then we know our nature!

If we have looked once into our being, considered and thought, ‘Am I living with demonic nature? Or am I living with divine nature? What is my nature?’ If we looked even once into our being and tried to measure ourselves with this scale, we are in the position of Arjuna. Be very clear that we too are born with divine qualities. So if you are worried after hearing the qualities, then be sure, you are born with divine qualities and you don’t need to worry about it any further. When a person who is righteous listens to such words, he will try to verify his own nature, since he is centered on dharma, righteousness.

People who are adhārmic, non-righteous, even if they listen to such discourses, think, ‘Oh, Swamiji speaks about all these things as though he lives them. Let us see how he lives them.’ A person who is divine tries to chisel or correct himself, whereas a person who is demonic tries to Daivāsura Sampad Vibhāga Yogaḥ You And Me 1155 correct others. With demonic nature, the person holds the hammer and chisel towards others, whereas with the divine nature, he holds the hammer and chisel towards himself. When we carve ourselves, we become God. If we have ever looked within ourselves, then we are born with the Divine nature. Now Arjuna has become mature; the moment he hears these truths, he looks into his being.

Naturally then Lord Kṛṣṇa tells him that he is born with Divine nature. Kṛṣṇa describes the qualities of a person who lives based on ‘I, I, I.’ I don’t think we need to understand these qualities because we already have these qualities which is why we still feel we are suffering. There is no need to read these qualities, because we know enough of them. All that we need to know is how to live with the attitude of ‘You, You, You’. Please understand that when we live with the root cognition of ‘You, You, You’, we completely forget ourselves; we disappear into Existence. We are in bliss. Technique to Experience Divinity Pleaae listen.

Let me share an important technique that Lord Kṛṣṇa speaks about. For three days, create a space and think you are somebody else. It may seem funny! For instance, if you are a doctor, for three days think you are a sports person or a divine being with whom you feel connected. Clearly visualize yourself as that divine being, not as a doctor. The moment you change the idea, the root cognition about yourself, a tremendous freedom happens to you. Your tension disappears. For three days try this meditation. For three days, create the space and think you are somebody else. Whatever you think of as your property, forget it; whatever you think are your problems, throw them out; whatever you think of as your profession, give it up.

You can pick it up later, but for three days throw it all away. You will see a new consciousness rising in you. If you throw away the ‘me’, that alone liberates you, and if you start working on ‘You’, you experience tremendous bliss. When you drop ‘me’, you experience peace and completion; when you start working with ‘You’, you experience peace and bliss. This is the straight path to peace and bliss. A demon is not one with horns on his head, with protruding teeth, with six hands and a fearsome look. Kṛṣṇa says that one with a demonic nature is not aware of what bondage is and what liberation is.

People of this nature are so deeply immersed in their attachment and aversion that they no longer feel themselves separated from these qualities. They are so much in bondage to their senses that they can no longer know they are in bondage. pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca janā na vidur āsurāḥ I na śaucam nāpi cācāro na satyam teṣu vidyate II 16.7 Even if you start with the doubt, ‘Perhaps I’m not Divine,’ you start moving into that default Divine nature. Caring for enriching others, focusing on the ‘you’ instead of ‘I,’ automatically takes you to the path of the Divine. The problem with most people however, is that their caring is a business transaction.

They care when there is something in it for them. Whether the transaction is with mother, father, spouse, son, daughter, relative or friend, there is a ‘What’s in it for me?’ attitude. When the focus is on ‘you,’ as in caring for enriching someone with no expectation, with no conditions, we slip into a state of bliss. This state of bliss is our natural state. When you are focused on ‘I’, you invite suffering and misery. Remember one thing: God is closest when we are blissful; when we are in misery we are farthest from God. The dilemma is that most of us remember God when we are in misery and that is the moment when we are farthest away also!

Even if we shout from a place of misery, our voice cannot reach Him. When we are blissful, we need not even whisper. Without saying a single word, our prayer is understood. Even our silence is eloquent. Daivāsura Sampad Vibhāga Yogaḥ You And Me 1157 When we are in a blissful moment, when we feel blessed by Existence, let us be enriched that moment. That is when we are closest to God. Let that moment be of gratitude, prayer, and meditation. In that moment, remember God existentially, not verbally. Let your whole being feel the vibration and become overwhelmed with the beyond. Don’t lose that moment. It is precious. Everybody is born ready for divinity.

If we miss it, it is totally our responsibility. We miss it because we never look within. We miss it because we never use the opportunity that life gives us. We miss it because we are lazy and we give up on our ourselves. We miss it because we are unconscious, sleepy. We miss it because we are not aware of the great blessing that life is. How To Save Our Planet?