Gita 2:45
You Are Getting That Victory Up To This Time

… The Gita is a dialogue between Krishn and Arjun. It is said that before Krishn and Arjun were born, they were not on earth. At that time, the very Being Absolute wished to become Krishn and Arjun. So just as leaves come out of a sprout, he divided out of himself two leaves. Then Krishn came on one side and Arjun came on the other, just to deal with those people who were doing wrong things. So Krishn and Arjun were the same, but Krishn forever retained the knowledge of his own true nature, the Truth. He knew he was not born, whereas Arjun forgot—even though it was a pact between those two people that “I will come as Krishn and you will come as Arjun. You will wield the power of your bow and arrows and kill all the terrorists, and I’ll be driving your chariot.” (There were no cars at that time.) It was something like this. Anyways, it’s a big story, but after they had undergone very severe pain and suffering, after the treachery they were thrown into, Arjun, the mighty man, the great archer, declared war. He said, “Look, if you are not going to give me my right, then I’ll take it.” And those who were doing this to him were his own cousins.

The story has been made in a manner that it can be applied to all human beings, who can get knowledge from it. Krishn and Arjun are two representative figures: one is forgetful and one is ever-remembering. So Krishn is forever Pure Free Forever knowledge space, while Arjun sometimes remembers and sometimes forgets, sometimes remembers and sometimes forgets. …

Arjun said, “Why should I fight? Because killing is involved in it.” Krishn asked, “Are you afraid of it?” Arjun answered, “I’m not afraid, but I have to kill people. And kill whom? My own grandpa!” Now, this was with family members. You don’t kill your grandpa. You always respect him. You can get away, you can go away as a tourist somewhere, leaving home and all that, but you don’t kill your father and your mother. … Arjun said, “I don’t want to kill, therefore I don’t want to fight.” Now Krishn was very cool and calm and didn’t become angry. He responded, “Well, you had chosen me as your charioteer, a philosopher and a friend, although I am your relation, no doubt.”

For Duryodhan had taken Krishn’s whole army, which was a very valuable army, many millions strong. [Duryodhan was Arjun’s cousin, against whom he had declared war, and Arjun and he had both approached Krishn for assistance. The choice was given by Krishn of either his army or himself, unarmed.] Duryodhan had asked Krishn for help, as they were relations. Krishn said, “You can have my army.” Arjun had said, “You’re enough, you come to me.” Arjun knew what Krishn was, so he had chosen Krishn as his Guru, his master, his philosopher and his guide, who would help him win the war. Krishn said to Arjun, “Your choice is wrong, because I’ll not wield weapons.” Arjun answered, “Weapons I’ll wield. You just now and then tell me what I have to do.” Thus, Krishn came along with Arjun.

So Arjun was telling him, “I’ll not fight.” Krishn had responded, “Well look, it is you who became commander-in-chief of your army, and all the persons are fighting along with you against these people, and they are for you. If you don’t fight, they will still kill all of them. The war is ready, and now you’re saying, ‘I’ll not fight’?!” Arjun was quiet. He said, “Well, I’m overwhelmed.” Krishn asked, “What is the meaning of overwhelmed?” Arjun answered, “My hands are shaking, my mind is not working, and my eyes are not able to see. I cannot handle my arrows and bow, they’re all falling down out of my hands.” Krishn said, “Well look, you were never like that.” He tried to remind him who he was. He said, “You’re the son of Paandu, you’re the student of Dronaacharya, you’re brave, you fought the war with Shankar and won your bow as a prize, so you must know your true nature. You’re a warrior, you yourself declared war, and now you are copping out?!” But Arjun said, “This is my state of mind, what can I do? You try something.”

Then Krishn answered, “Well look, you have to listen to me.” Arjun said, “Whatever my ears can hear I am listening to, but my mind is not working.” Krishna responded, “If your mind is not working, then how did you say ‘I will not fight, I’ll not meet this challenge’? Don’t deceive me. I know your mind is working. You are alright, there is nothing wrong with you, but you have to listen to me.” Arjun answered, “I can’t do this, I can’t kill my grandfather, I can’t kill my Dronaacharya,” the teacher who had taught him how to wield weapons. “How can I kill my cousins and relations, who are in hundreds?” Krishn asked, “Then, why did you declare war?” Arjun said, “They did all injustice to me.” So Krishn said, “So you know justice and injustice. That means your mind is working.”

Arguments from both sides. The teacher was saying something and the student was saying something, but at least Arjun was open to Krishn. He had said, “Well, this is my state of affairs.” Many people do not express what situation they are in. So Krishn asked, “Where is it written that you will not fight war?” He answered, “I cannot kill my relations, war or no war.” So Krishn asked, “You are afraid of death?” He said, “No, they can kill me, but I’ll not fight.”

Then Krishn came to know that Arjun was conditioned and could not change his condition. And what was his condition? He was expressing that he was knowledgeable; he was knowledgeable, therefore he would not do his duty. He was a warrior, he had taken the duty on himself, yet he would not do it. … If you are fighting a war, the general of the army should fight. When the army is ready, the general has to be there. So on the relative field, whatever duty we take, we have to do it; whatever responsibility we take, we have to do it.

Through scriptures, we came to know that to serve our mother is first, because our mother is the closest being to us. You have been there in your mother’s womb; she is nothing but you, you are nothing but her. This you can understand. … Arjun was also a family member. He had a wife, he had children, he had grandchildren. He was eighty-five years old when he fought the war as a very brave warrior. [Laughter] It’s written over there, it’s not that I’m making it up. But it works. Whether they were elders and they said it, but here Krishn did not die, Arjun did not die. If I can remember them, then I can know, just as I can see forms—if I have eyes, then forms are there. My eyes are there, so forms are there. My mind is there, so the world is there. My mind is there, so the millennia are there. My mind is there, so the future is there. And the mind is spread all over. It’s prior to the sky. That is the subtlest reality. You cannot do away with this mind from your head.

So Arjun remembered everything and said, “Well, I’m dropping all this, I’m not fighting.” Rather, he said, “Now I’m hungry, I’m going to my kitchen.” [Laughter] It’s the middle of the war, watch, and he’s hungry! You are on the trip of Self Realization, but first you have to do real estate business. You remained seven years and lost all whatever you had learned. Then you say, “In old age I’ll do this work, when I’ll be sixty years old.” There are some persons who are like this. … But I’m talking about Arjun and Krishn. [Laughter] So Arjun started giving speeches to Krishn, saying, “I’ll not do this. It is a sin to kill persons. Is it wrong that I should go home to my kitchen? I’m really very much confused! Please, you straighten me out.”

Krishn responded, “Do you think that you are a man of mind at this time?” Arjun answered, “Yes, I remember all the scriptures.” … Krishn said, “You are speaking like a learned man, but you have completely forgotten this fact that the mind—which is trigunaatmak, which is made of sattwogun, rajogun and tamogun [the gunas, or powers of luminosity, activity and inertia]—is made of nature. These gunas are natural powers, and they are changing powers. So Trai gunya vishayaa vedaa, the three gunas are the subject of the Vedas.” Ved means knowledge. Knowledge is tuned in to the mind, the mind is tuned in to knowledge, or the mind has knowledge, so the mind is called the knowledge of a man, not his knees or toes. Thus Krishn said, “The mind is trigunaatmak, which means its characteristics are of the three gunas, sattwogun, rajogun and tamogun. Therefore listen to me, Arjun, listen to what I say.” Arjun became alert. He asked, “What?” Krishn said, “Trai gunya vishayaa vedaa, nistraigunyo bhav Arjun. No three—no sattwa, no rajas, no tamas, not these things—or nistraigunyo, free from the gunas, bhav, be.” Free from the gunas is Space. This space, which is physical space, is trigunaatmak, because it is made of the gunas.

Now Arjun was living with all the businessmen, maybe the Republican party. [Laughter] So he asked, “What will happen if I give up the three gunas and get beyond the mind? You give me some gain with which I can fight, with which I can be turned on to that.” So then Krishn said, “Nirdwandwo—you’ll be free from doubt, there will be no struggle of either this or that, either this or that.” This goes on in a man’s life. He always says, “This should happen and that should not happen. This should happen and that should not happen.” So Krishn said, “You’ll be free from duality, free from otherness, free from this or that, free from gain and loss, free from pass and failure, free from birth and death. Nirdwandwo means you’ll become that.”

Then Arjun said, “No, you give me one more. It’s only one idea of gain, but I want at least three.” Because here, if you say anything three times, then it becomes solid. “I said this, you listen to me. I said this, you listen to me. I said this, you listen to me.” You are able to get it after saying this three times. The first time, no one listens to you. Fathers and mothers know this, you have to tell a child something at least three times, and the third time he says yes.

So Krishn told Arjun, “Nirdwandwo, you’ll be free from struggles. And nitya sattwastho, you’ll be established in that which is sattwa—not sattwogun. Sattwa means Space. You’ll be established in Space. Your mind, your knowledge, will be established in That, you will be absorbed in That.” And as a human mind, you always have yog or kshaym: “Should I possess this or should I give this up? Should I possess this in view of that or in place of that, or this?” So Krishn told Arjun he would be niryog kshaym. A human being is always ready that he should have something and possess it, or have yog and kshaym, protect it and keep it. This is the human mind. You possess something and keep it. You possess the knowledge and keep it. You possess the dictionary and keep it. You borrow the book and keep it. [Laughter] All this. So he told Arjun he would become niryog kshaym, free of that.

So Krishn said three things: “Be established in the Space, and you’ll be free from duality or struggle. You’ll be established in the Space which is purification—always no duality, neither this nor that, nor up nor down, nor birth nor death. And your mind will be free from the idea of possessing and the idea of protecting.”

In the end he said, “This is the advice I am giving you: You be Aatmawaan, and you will be the man of the Space, you will be the mind of the Space, you will be the mind of the Source. Whatever your Source is, you will be.” Arjun asked, “What is my Source?” Krishn answered, “Sitting before you. Driving your chariot. I am that who knows.” Then he reminded him and showed him his form, his viraat swaroop [cosmic form] and said to him, “Now watch,” and a kind of movie reeled back. Then Arjun saw that period where Krishn and Arjun both had decided that “I’ll be Krishn and you’ll be Arjun, and we should not forget our true nature. You have to fight and kill these people, because they have become terrorists, or unjust.”

That is where you can check human beings. They are always seeking justice. Why? They are purified people, sattwa people, and they see minds that are infested with rajogun and tamogun, who are all deteriorated minds, always doing wrong things, everything that is incorrect. Such people are in majority, so justice is denied. Because justice will only come when people are established in sattwa—not only sattwogun, with which you’ll be good, a gentleman, a wonderful person, but you will still be afraid of death. Even when you are established in sattwa, you’ll be afraid of death. So you have to be in that state which is sattwa, which means only Existence. Existence is Space, which I call Pure Free Forever. ….

So Arjun came to know that “If Space I am, Space you are, then Space is Oneness.” Immediately, all the fear was gone, everything was done, and he became strong and brave enough. Then he said [Gita 18:73], “My delusion is gone. My memory of the Space became clear. By your grace, I became aware that Space I am, and not only this bow and arrow, but the whole body is a machine and a tool. This I came to know. Therefore, I am one with You.” That’s called surrender. Surrender is not hoisting a white flag. Surrender is when smallness is immersed in all-knowingness. A human being is small knowledge, that “I am this, this I.” This I got immersed in Krishn Space. When Arjun became one with Krishn, Oneness was established, and there remained no doubt. Then action and responsibility, whatever was there, Arjun did it all, and he was victorious. And you are getting that victory up to this time. Thank you. [Applause]

All the scriptures lead your attention to That. We are human beings, and each one knows that before the body ends, each one should be free from scare, free from doubt, scepticism, weakness, worries, tension and agitation, and be able to eat good food and digest it well. Thank you. Amaram Hum Madhuram Hum. You can close your eyes. …