Introduction to the Bhagavad-Gita- Part 1: Post-8: Swami Krishnananda.
Swami Chinmayananda:
Friday 12, Jul 2024, 07:20.
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Introduction to the Bhagavadgita- Part 1
POST-8.
Swami Krishnananda
(Spoken on March 3rd, 1974)
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Duryodhana went in great confidence, thinking that he had already won victory in the war. “The victory is already mine; it is decided. There is no need of saying anything about it, because such an army is mine. Foolish Pandavas, stupid Arjuna!” he said to himself, and went back and told his kinsman in Hastinapura, “Don't bother. Victory is ours. This is what has happened.” Oh, all were happy. They made a bhandara. “We are going to win the war. These Pandavas are going to be defeated. They have no help.”
After Duryodhana left, Krishna asked Arjuna, “How foolish you are, my friend. Why have you chosen me instead of asking for the army? What do you get from me? Are you not unwise? Have you not made a mistake?”
Arjuna said, “Lord, I want only your blessings, and your very presence is sufficient for me. I have not come here to trouble you or take anything from you. I have come only for your benign grace and blessings. If you merely utter a word 'Victory be yours', that shall be sufficient for me. Why should I want an army? You please be with me as my moral support, spiritual guide, friend and philosopher. I need nothing else from you.”
“I see. This is your intention. All right, so be it,” said Krishna, and bade farewell to Arjuna.
Arjuna went back and told Yudhisthira, his elder brother, what happened. They were very happy that the Lord is coming; whether he may actively take part in the war or not was a different matter.
But, why did Arjuna choose Krishna, a single man, an inactive person, rather than the active warriors known as the Narayani Sena? Here we have the secret of success in life, and here also is the clue to our failures. Why do we fail in life, and why do some people succeed? Well, the answer is here in this beautiful story. Why did Duryodhana choose the army? Why did Arjuna choose Krishna?
Many of us are Duryodhanas, choosing the army, because we do not want that inactive something, which is one. We want many. We always ask for many things, and not one thing. This is the way in which we think always. You accost any person, “How many things do you want?” He will say, “Many things.” Nobody will be satisfied with one thing. We make the mistake of thinking that one is less than the many because, according to arithmetic, many ones are larger in quantity than a single one. That is our mathematics, and it is very clear. One hundred dollars are larger than one dollar. Is it not clear? So naturally, many things will be more useful than one thing. This is what Duryodhana thought, it is what every one of us also thinks, and this is why we are in this unfortunate, helpless, weakened position we call mortal existence, mortal life.
But there is a peculiar 'one thing' which cannot be arithmetically or mathematically computed. Our arithmetic will not work there. There is a super-mathematical world of realities transcending the calculative mind of the human individual. Our calculations will not work there, where many things are not larger than one thing, and many 'one things' do not make several things. How is it possible?
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Continued
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