The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita - 4.4. : Swami Krishnananda.

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Friday, January 27,  2023. 07:30.

Chapter 4: The Struggle for the Infinite - 4.

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There is a very interesting story. Narayana and Lakshmi were seated in Vaikuntha. Lakshmi cast a glance over the whole world and saw a pig wallowing in a mire, eating rubbish. She was really sorry. She told Narayana, “What is this creation of yours? If you wish, you can give salvation to anyone in a moment; and this is the compassion that you have! Look at this poor pig. Can you not bring it back to Vaikuntha? Why does it stink in mire?” Narayana said, “It does not want to come. If it does not want to come, what can I do?” “Oh, who will not want to come to Vaikuntha, the glorious paradise?” Lakshmi said. “But I tell you, it does not want to come,” said Narayana. Lakshmi again said, “Impossible! No one with sense will dislike to come to the glorious heaven of Vaikuntha.” Narayana said, “Well, you can send a messenger to the pig and call it to Vaikuntha.”

Narada was sent as a messenger, who spoke to the pig, “Friend, well, Narayana is calling you to Vaikuntha.” The pig said, “Narayana? Which Narayana? Where? And what is this Vaikuntha? And why are you troubling me, disturbing me?” “No, no, no, I am not disturbing you. Why are you suffering here?” “What suffering? I am not suffering, I am happy. I have my family, everything is okay.” “No, in this quagmire, in this dirt, you are living. Narayana's Vaikuntha is paradise. Immortality is what you gain there. Nectar is what you drink.” “Nectar? What is nectar?” “It is a glorious elixir which will make you deathless.” “I cannot understand anything. I shall ask my Mrs.”

Mr. Pig went to the Mrs. and said, “Somebody has come and he says he is from Narayana in some Vaikuntha, and they want us to go there. They say we will be happy there. What do you say?” “But will we get our food there, the food that we eat every day?” she asked. Mr. Pig came back to Narada and asked, Can we get the daily bread we eat here?” “Oh, horrible!” Narada cried. “You are asking for this dirty stuff in Vaikuntha? Nothing, nothing of the kind. That you cannot have. You shall have the divine elixir.” “Then you mind your business. You cannot give us even our food, and you want us to starve in Vaikuntha? To that place you are taking us! We do not want to come. You go, go, sir.” Narada came back. “I am sorry,” he told Narayana and Lakshmi, “they do not want to come.” And, turning to Lakshmi, Narayana said, “What did I say?”

Well, this is a story about every one of us. It is not merely a tale to hear, it has some connection with all of us. Such is the poor understanding we have of God and such the nature of the moksha that we are thinking of in our minds, in a peculiar manner of our own. Don't you think that we would like to exist somehow in this very way even in the garden of Eden, in the presence of the Almighty? And would you like to be swallowed up by the lion of God? No, that is a terrible thing! No one can gainsay that there is a basic love for bodily existence, and our idea of immortality is of a long duration of existence in this very state of affairs in which we are living today. Only, we would not like to have the pinpricks of daily life we are trying to get over. We want to have a free hand in everything, but with the justification of this ego's desires. The attachments which were the basis of the arguments of Arjuna, mentioned in the First Chapter, are the opposite of the spiritual gospel that Krishna gave in the Bhagavadgita. Yes, Arjuna was prepared for renunciation also, if it came to that. He suggested, “I renounce the whole thing and become a mendicant. If that is spiritual life and religion, I am ready.”

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To be continued

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