Commentary on the Srimad Bhagavad Gita- Discourse 6.9 - Swami Krishnananda.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saturday,February  06, 2021. 09:40. AM.
Discourse 6: The Third Chapter Begins – The Relation Between Sankhya and Yoga -9.
Post-10.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Let your knowledge be inside you, as a guide, as a lamp for others, but never use it to prop up your ego and then project your individuality through that knowledge. Let not your knowledge be broadcast. The light will shine by itself even if it is covered with bushes and, therefore, your existence itself will speak in a louder voice than the words that you speak. Your way of living, your thinking and feeling, your mode of behaviour is your teaching, so let not there be any parading of knowledge. Knowledge makes a person humble; and when you reach the highest knowledge, you become so humble you do not seem to be existing at all because your knowledge has pervaded the hearts and souls of all people. You become what the Bhagavadgita calls sarvabhutahite rata? (5.25), a person intent on the welfare of everyone. You are a friend of the higher and the lower, the good and the bad, the king and the beggar, the animal and the fool. You are a friend of all, and nobody will show teeth or claws before you because of your being a friend.

Let not anybody know what kind of person you are. Let the Almighty know, it is enough. If all the world knows what you are and God does not recognise you, it is nothing for you; but if you are not known to the world at all and you are known to some central principle of the universe, that is enough for you. He who is last here will be the first in heaven, and he who is first here will be the last there.

Do not always occupy the front seat. You can sit further away. It is said that where the Ramayana Katha is going on, Hanuman appears as an old man sitting near the shoes. Live like a deaf and dumb man, like a man who knows nothing. This state of affairs, this kind of attitude of not exhibiting oneself—not being presentable in any manner whatsoever, looking like a deaf and dumb person or a person with no understanding at all—is the characteristic that the body assumes automatically when the knowledge heightens, like with Jada Bharata.

Jada Bharata was a great saint who is mentioned in the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana. He was the son of Rishabhadeva. He would not talk at all; people thought he was an idiot. He would not do any work. His brothers told him to tend cattle, but he would simply allow the cattle to go into anybody’s field and eat the harvest. So they told him to remain quiet and not do any work at all. He would not talk. He was a very well-built person, but he looked like an idiot sitting somewhere in a corner. One day some dacoits caught hold of him. They wanted a person to be offered as a sacrifice to Kali, the devata whom they were worshipping. They thought that here is a well-built man who does not talk, so they took him. They tied him up and dragged him into the Kali temple, where they were about to offer him in sacrifice. When the sword was lifted by the priest, the Kali murti burst open, and the divinity rushed forth and grabbed the sword from the hand of the dacoits, destroyed them, and vanished. Can you imagine such a possibility? This is how the shakti which Jada Bharata maintained operated. It could draw energy from a stone. This is only a small digression from the main subject. Sri Krishna’s point is that a person who is wise should not show his wisdom too much before other people. Let him be humble. He may be an educating medium to others to take them higher and higher from the stage in which they are, and not suddenly make them jump into higher realms.

To be continued ....

========================================================================