The Relevance of the Bhagavadgita to Humanity- 3.8. Swami Krishnananda

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01/04/2020.
Chapter 3: The Aranya Parvam of the Mahabharatam-8.
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1.

#Then there are social norms. You are in an ashram, for instance. You have to live like the other people in the ashram. There are certain systems and norms of behaviour. It is not possible to behave as you would behave in a railway train or in a circus tent, and so on. An ashram is an ashram. If you are in some other place, it is a different matter. And you have got a physical body. It is a reality. 

*Who says it is not a reality? 

If you say you are not involved in it, then it is not reality. As I mentioned, a reality is that with which you are involved and which you consider as real. 

*Do you consider the body as real or unreal? 

##If you say it is unreal, very good, no problem. But if you say it is real, then to whatever extent it is real, to that extent you have a duty. If you do not do that duty, it will show its strength, and you know what it will do. So are the internal layers, all the layers: prana, senses, mind, emotion, feeling, prejudices, likes and dislikes. And, of course, there is the final aspiration for God. As the Atman inside, you long for God. That is a reality.

But is it the only reality, or have you any other reality? 

###Be honest to yourself.
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2.

#We live in fourteen worlds, as I mentioned. All these layers are the worlds, and each tollgate has to be paid a tax. Even if there are twenty tollgates, twenty times you have to pay the tax. You cannot say that you have paid once. “Now further you cannot go,” the collector will say. So these are the taxes that we owe to the layers of our personality. 

##We take a bath every day, we clean our teeth, have ablutions, and have breakfast. This is the tax that we are paying to this body. Otherwise, it will say, “No, you cannot move.” You cannot tell the body, “You are unreal. Don’t talk to me.” It will say, “To the extent I am real, you must pay the tax.” 

###Likewise, every impulse will tell you this. If certain injudicious behaviour of yours causes trouble, then the tax collector rises up and prevents you from advancing. Then even your good intentions get suppressed by the legal mandates of unattended issues, which are the realities in which you are involved. Otherwise, you will be exiles.
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3.

#However, God is always with us. We have a terrible situation to face in this world. The whole world is a battlefield of the Mahabharata, yes, but Sri Krishna is always with us. All the terrific philosophy, difficult to understand, expressed in the Third Chapter of the Bhagavadgita, the crux of the whole of karma yoga, was hard even for Arjuna’s mind to comprehend. 

##Is it possible? Is such a thing possible? It is possible, because whenever you find yourself in a crisis of this difficulty of the impossibility to advance, the finger of God will operate if you are sincere. That is the Avatara. Sambhavami yuge yuge (4.8): “I shall come and help you. You may be in trouble, but I shall help you.”
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4.

So is this drama of life, which has several stages. As, the life of man is all a theatre. The world is a large stage, and we are all dramatis personae. The personalities of the Mahabharata are actually not Yudhisthira, Arjuna, Bhima, Duryodhana. There is no Karna, Arjuna, or anyone. We are the people. It is a story about ourselves only; therefore, we shall be happy because as the Pandavas suffered, we may be also suffering in some way, but we shall also have the satisfaction that the great Master is with us. He shall not leave us. Even in the forest he will come and talk to us. So be happy.

THE END.

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