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| Janmashtami: A New Perspective | | |
Janmashtami celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna. Ashtami is significant as it indicates a perfect balance between the seen and the unseen aspects of reality; the visible material world and the invisible spiritual realm.
Krishna’s birth on Ashtami signifies his mastery of both the spiritual and material worlds. He is a great teacher and a spiritual inspiration as well as the consummate politician. On one hand, he is Yogeshwara (the Lord of Yogas — the state to which every yogi aspires) while on the other, he is a mischievous thief.
The unique quality of Krishna is that he is at once more pious than the saints and yet a thorough mischief-monger! His behaviour is a perfect balance of the extremes — perhaps this is why the personality of Krishna is so difficult to fathom. The avdhoot is oblivious to the world outside and a materialistic person, a politician or a king is oblivious to the spiritual world. But Krishna is both Dwarkadheesh and Yogeshwar.
Krishna’s teachings are most relevant to our times in the sense that they neither let you get lost in material pursuits nor make you completely withdrawn. They rekindle your life, from being a burnt-out and stressed personality to a more centred and dynamic one. Krishna teaches us devotion with skill. To celebrate Gokulashtami is to imbibe extremely opposite yet compatible qualities and manifest them in your own life.
Hence the most authentic way of celebrating Janamashtami is knowing that you have to play a dual role — of being a responsible human being on the planet and at the same time to realize that you are above all events, the untouched Brahman. Imbibing a bit of avadhoot and a bit of activism in your life is the real significance of celebrating Janmashtami.
Today is krishna’s birth of the center of attraction
Krishna means the most attractive. It is the divinity that is the most attractive; the energy that pulls everything to it. Krishna is the formless center which is everywhere. Any attraction from anywhere is coming only from Krishna. Often people fail to see the spirit behind the attraction and merely hold on to the outer shell. And the moment you try to possess the shell, you will see Krishna has played a trick and you will be left with an empty shell in your hands and tears in your eyes.
Be clever like Radha -- don’t be tricked by Krishna. Krishna could not escape from Radha, for her whole world was filled with Krishna. If you can see that wherever there is an attraction, there is Krishna; then you are Radha, you are in your center.
The mind moves towards beauty, joy and truth. Krishna tells Arjuna, “I am the beauty in the Beautiful, the strength in the Strong, the wisdom in the Wise.” In this way he arrests the mind from moving away from him.
Krishna reveals this Knowledge to Arjuna because he is Anasuya. Next week we will see what is Anasuya.
The path of surrender is the path of love
Krishna tells Arjuna, “You are very dear to me.” Then Krishna tells Arjuna he must surrender. Surrender begins with an assumption. First you must assume. You assume you are the most beloved of the Divine, and then surrender happens.
Surrender is not an action; it is an assumption. Non-surrender is ignorance. Non-surrender is an illusion. So surrender is an assumption. Surrender has to begin as an assumption and then it reveals itself as a reality. Finally, it reveals itself as an illusion. An illusion because there is no two, no duality. There is no independent existence of anyone. An individual has no independent existence. That is it!
Question: Do you have to go through surrender to realize it is an illusion?
Answer: Yes, absolutely.
Question: Where is choice then?
Answer: Choice is your destiny.
Krishna doesn’t tell Arjuna in the beginning that he must surrender. First he says, “You are so dear to me.” And then he tells him, “ There is no other choice for you, you must surrender. Either you do it now, or you do it later.” This is the path of love.
Do You Have To Be Thankful And Feel Obliged?
When you are on a spiritual path, you are not thankful or obliged to anybody. In the Gita, Krishna says, “He is dear to Me who neither goes on thanking people nor hates anyone (Na abhinandati na dveshthi).” Thanking and feeling obliged indicates that you believe in some one else’s existence rather than in the Divine who is ruling everything. When you feel obliged, then you are not honoring the principles of karma or the divine plan.
Appreciate people for what they are, do not thank them for what they do. Otherwise your thankfulness is centered around ego. You are grateful, but not for an act. You are grateful for what is. As every individual is nothing but a puppet of the ONE, thanking and being obliged is simply an exhibition of ignorance. Everything is ruled, controlled and managed by one Divinity, that consciousness has to shine forth in every act of yours; you do not have to make a mood of it.
Q: Guruji, we are so grateful to you, what should we do?
Sri Sri: When you have a total sense of belonging, then gratefulness does not become an obligation. Such gratefulness is for the Divine only, which enhances strength.
Q: Guruji, when there is conflict, does God take sides or is He unbiased?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No, God does not take sides; he is unbiased and detached.
But the one who takes refuge in God becomes in favour of God.
In the Mahabharata, when Sri Krishna was resting, both Arjuna and Duryodhana went to him. And both of them went to him because both of them had the same faith that Krishna is unbiased and will accept their request.
If Duryodhana would have felt that He is not unbiased then he would not have gone to talk to Him. Duryodhana went to Sri Krishna because even he knew that Krishna is unbiased. And Arjuna also went for he also knew that Krishna is unbiased.
When the two of them went to Him, Sri Krishna laid a condition, ‘On one side is my army and on the other side is me, and I will not use any weapons. I will not fight. Now ask what you want. You have to decide whether you want my army or you want me.’
Then Duryodhana used his mind. Anyone who uses their mind in this situation would think as to what use it would be to have someone who will not fight the war, might as well choose his army. So he chose the army. So, Duryodhana asked for Sri Krishna’s army and was happy.
And this is what people think even today. They don’t want Guruji, but they want the people from his organization to be with them for their protest. If the people come along with them they can do a protest.
So, on the other hand was Arjuna. He did not know of the powers of Lord Krishna but he knew that He is very intelligent and things always happen as he says. So he asked Krishna to be his charioteer.
The one who rides the chariot is as important as the one who shoots an arrow. The charioteer is no less important. So Arjuna requested for Krishna’s presence because he didn’t think from his head but he thought from his heart, or he thought from the space of the peak of intelligence.
So he took refuge in Krishna and requested Him from his heart for his support.
‘I am ready for the battle. Please be on my side.’
So Krishna also agreed, anyway that is what He wanted. He knew that the side He was on would be victorious.
That is why, the one who has taken refuge in God becomes in favor of God; and one who is egoistic moves away from God. Duryodhana was so egoistic that he moved away from God.
Shiva and Krishna Are One
Angels are a part of the Big Self. The infinity has diverse qualities, and specific qualities assume names. They are called Angels. Angels are nothing but a ray of your Big Self. They are there to serve you when you are centered. Like roots and stems and leaves come out of a seed when it is sprouted, all the Angels in your life manifest when you are centered. Angels rejoice in your company, but you have nothing to gain from them. They only come around those who have nothing to gain from them. Angels are like your extended arms. Like all the colors are present in the white sunlight, all the Angels are present in your higher self. Bliss is their breath, dispassion their abode. The consciousness which is bliss, innocence, omnipresent, and the bestower of dispassion is Shiva. Krishna is the outer manifestation of Shiva. And Shiva is the inner silence of Krishna.
Q: Dear Guruji, in the Bhagvad Gita, Krishna says, ‘Bow down to me, I will free you. Follow Me!’ and a common man is also caught up in the ‘me’ and ‘mine’! So how is Krishna different from us?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: One is the person who is capable of taking the sins saying, ‘You give it to me.’
Another is someone who is incapable of taking anything and saying ‘Me.’
There is a difference.
When a doctor comes and says, ‘You have fever? I will take care of you’. It is a different issue.
But someone who has no knowledge of medicine, if they say, ‘I will take care of you,’ has no meaning.
So the space from which Krishna says, ‘Me’, that me is not the body.
That is why Krishna himself has said, ‘Avajananti Mam Mudha Manusim Tanum Asritam; Param Bhavam Ajananto Mama Bhuta-Maheshvaram’.
The ‘Me’ in me is a very different me, and not knowing that transcendental nature of mine, people think I am just a human body and mind.
So that is the difference.
Even when Arjuna asked Krishna to repeat Bhagvad Gita again after the war was over, he said, ‘No, I cannot. That moment I was in a Samadhi; in a different state of consciousness and so I said it. Now I cannot repeat it.’
‘Till love gets transformed into devotion, there is no satisfaction’
What H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said
‘Till love gets transformed into devotion, there is no satisfaction’
India, (Art of Living International Center, Bangalore),
This knowledge sheet was given on the occasion of Janmashtami (Festival celebrating the birth of Lord Krishna)
We are celebrating lord Krishna’s 5146st birthday. He lived for 125 years. Krishna is not a vyakti (person) but shakti(energy). Krishna says: ‘People think I am in the human form, but I am ananta shakti (that energy which has no end). Those who see Me in others and others in Me are never far away from me. I will be with them always.’
All navarasas were present in Krishna. Krishna was poorna kala avataran (a complete incarnation).
Krishna is consciousness. The purpose of celebration is to realize that Krishna is in me and not different.
In the Bhagwat Geeta, Lord Krishna says, “One who sees everyone in Me and sees Me in everyone, for such a person, I shall never remain hidden and he shall never be far from me.”
Lord Krishna’s life has all the nine rasas (flavors). For instance, he was naughty like a child, a warrior, joy personified and a source of knowledge.
He was a perfect friend and guru. There never was and never will be a friend like Krishna.
To awaken the Krishna in our consciousness is the right way of celebrating Janmashtami.
‘Krishna is not far from me, not separate from me, he is within me’: this feeling will fill your life with Krishna.
To understand Krishna become Radha or Arjuna or Uddhava.
Three kinds of people seek refuge in God. The lover, the miserable and the wise. Uddhava was wise, Arjuna was miserable and Radha was love. So all are good. Arjuna was not saddened for himself but for the whole world. To be saddened for humanity is the dharma (duty) of a human. So when this pain for humanity is awakened in the heart and you don’t know what to do and what not to - then your life is filled with Krishna.
On the battlefield, Krishna tells Arjuna to become a Yogi. Krishna is also addressed as Yogeshwar (God of Yoga).
Follow what Krishna said, “See everyone in Me and see Me in everyone” and become a yogi.
Don’t be afraid of anything, be useful for everyone.
Krishna never scolded Arjuna, he did not let him feel guilty at all. He always uplifted Arjuna.
He reminded Arjuna that all the virtues are within him already. He did not need to work towards achieving them.
Krishna was born at midnight, when everyone was sleeping. When all the senses sleep, then the knowledge of the self is awakened. This can be interpreted spiritually. Deh (body) is Devaki*, Prana (life energy) is Vasudev*. When body and life energy unite, then the bliss that is born out of the union is called Nandlala**.
When Krishna was born, all the guards fell asleep. Guards represent the senses and bliss is beyond the senses. The jail represents the body and the river Yamuna, love. It rose to touch the feet of the little Krishna. This means that the love was so intense it could not refrain itself from touching the feet of the Lord.
Till love gets transformed into devotion, there is no satisfaction. So when love happens with a thing, person or situation - it is not fulfilling. However, love reaches its peak when it experiences the touch of the Divine.
The story has an amazing meaning behind it. That’s why our ancestors did not restrict a story to time and place- this is a forever continuing to flow, its happening everyday. |
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