The Relevance of the Bhagavadgita to Humanity : 4.7. Swami Krishnananda
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Thursday, May 14, 2020.
The First Six Chapters of the Bhagavadgita
Chapter 4: Stories from the Aranya Parva - 7.
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1.
I will tell you another story.
Today I will tell you only stories, nothing else. I am tired, so I will tell stories only.
There was a great sage. Due to some error in meditation or through some mistake, he was born as a deer.
It is not Jada Bharata, the deer about whom you read in the Bhagavata Mahapurana.
Due to the power of meditation, it remembered its past birth.
It knew what it was but because it was a deer it was vulnerable, accessible to any hunter. One day it was caught by the hunter. What the hunter did was, he tied a net on one side, set a huge configuration of fire on the second side, let off his hounds on the third side, and on the fourth side, he himself stood with a poisoned arrow directed against the deer.
There was no protection. It could not go any direction because all the four sides were covered.
Suddenly the deer remembered its previous life, and the great power that was there. How it remembered, what strength of thought motivated its prayer at that time, nobody knows. Succour came immediately.
You cannot imagine how you can be helped in such a condition, in the worst of conditions.
Unimaginable situation! There was a cyclone. Immediately a wind blew, and the wind brought some clouds. The wind blew in such a way that the net was caught by the very fire that the hunter had set.
The wind blew in the direction of the net, so the flames caught the net, and the raindrops extinguished the fire. A snake started moving on the ground just near the foot of the hunter, and he felt some sensation. In fright he let off the arrow, which hit his own dog, and the deer was saved.
Why should you not be saved?
Many are the varieties of these stories. Some other kinds of stories we have in the Aranya Parva of the Mahabharatam.
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2.
Anyhow, it was a very undecided condition of the future of the Pandavas. Nobody knew what would happen to them, and according to the principles of the exile meted out to them, they had to live incognito for one year. Great troubles they had. It was only after thirteen years of suffering they saw the light of help coming from friends, led by Sri Krishna himself.
That is the beginning of spiritual aspiration, righteousness, goodness, and right motivation taking root positively. Until the Udyoga Parva of the Mahabharata, we do not see any positive light in front of a person. It is all confusion, setbacks.
Though there was sometimes a ray of hope descending from heaven in the form of blessings received from Indra and other gods who furnished the Pandavas with weapons and missiles of a mystical type, with all that, they were suffering.
And after all, who would like to be unbefriended in the forest?
It was the worst thing to be incognito, living unknown, and somehow escaping the notice of other people. When the period of exile was over, all friends came.
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To be continued ....
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Thursday, May 14, 2020.
The First Six Chapters of the Bhagavadgita
Chapter 4: Stories from the Aranya Parva - 7.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1.
I will tell you another story.
Today I will tell you only stories, nothing else. I am tired, so I will tell stories only.
There was a great sage. Due to some error in meditation or through some mistake, he was born as a deer.
It is not Jada Bharata, the deer about whom you read in the Bhagavata Mahapurana.
Due to the power of meditation, it remembered its past birth.
It knew what it was but because it was a deer it was vulnerable, accessible to any hunter. One day it was caught by the hunter. What the hunter did was, he tied a net on one side, set a huge configuration of fire on the second side, let off his hounds on the third side, and on the fourth side, he himself stood with a poisoned arrow directed against the deer.
There was no protection. It could not go any direction because all the four sides were covered.
Suddenly the deer remembered its previous life, and the great power that was there. How it remembered, what strength of thought motivated its prayer at that time, nobody knows. Succour came immediately.
You cannot imagine how you can be helped in such a condition, in the worst of conditions.
Unimaginable situation! There was a cyclone. Immediately a wind blew, and the wind brought some clouds. The wind blew in such a way that the net was caught by the very fire that the hunter had set.
The wind blew in the direction of the net, so the flames caught the net, and the raindrops extinguished the fire. A snake started moving on the ground just near the foot of the hunter, and he felt some sensation. In fright he let off the arrow, which hit his own dog, and the deer was saved.
Why should you not be saved?
Many are the varieties of these stories. Some other kinds of stories we have in the Aranya Parva of the Mahabharatam.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.
Anyhow, it was a very undecided condition of the future of the Pandavas. Nobody knew what would happen to them, and according to the principles of the exile meted out to them, they had to live incognito for one year. Great troubles they had. It was only after thirteen years of suffering they saw the light of help coming from friends, led by Sri Krishna himself.
That is the beginning of spiritual aspiration, righteousness, goodness, and right motivation taking root positively. Until the Udyoga Parva of the Mahabharata, we do not see any positive light in front of a person. It is all confusion, setbacks.
Though there was sometimes a ray of hope descending from heaven in the form of blessings received from Indra and other gods who furnished the Pandavas with weapons and missiles of a mystical type, with all that, they were suffering.
And after all, who would like to be unbefriended in the forest?
It was the worst thing to be incognito, living unknown, and somehow escaping the notice of other people. When the period of exile was over, all friends came.
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To be continued ....
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