Wednesday, March 26, 2008
GITA 108 DAYS - Day 71
71. Remove the Lord from all Names and Forms
Arjuna prayed to the Lord to pardon his indiscretions. By omission, he called Him a friend, by the name Krishna, comrade and Yadav. This is the realization in Arjuna that the Lord is not an individual. It is also the realization that the individual I considered as my father, mother, wife, friend, child, husband, etc. so far is not that person in the real sense. There can be dialogue only between individuals. He is not an individual, and all our arguments are irrelevant. He is a presence – experience it, remove Him from all boundaries of names and forms.
All rituals are meant for developing concentration through submission for arriving at a meditative state of mind. These rituals are not to be done by others for you. They are to be done by you without any compulsion from outside. Arjuna is addressing Him as Viswa moorthe (Oh! the one with the universal form!). Only when we remove Him from all imageries of individual forms would HE become the Viswa moorthy. If we ‘see’ Him in one form; we are limiting Him to just that one form. He has thousand hands; we also have thousand hands and that many possibilities.
Krishna assures Arjuna that no one else would be able to see the Viswa roopam, even if they do scriptural studies, charity work or penance. Here Arjuna represents us, who are keen and anxious to know. The Lord consoles Arjuna by telling him not to be scared or mesmerized by His terrible form. Then he assumes the noble form of Sri Krishna. In the universe there are two forms- one that we like and the other, we don’t. Some people see only the drawbacks and problems in life. Only when we work with the attitude of ‘everything is Lord’ would our knowledge turn into wisdom. In that wisdom, the Lord becomes the Father of the universe, guru, air, death, fire, god of the seas, Varuna, Moon, creator, ancestor, etc, etc. Bow down and prostrate to the earth by submitting own body unto it. Think of the path you traversed. With this attitude of humility, we should see the universe. Then each of us will find and develop our own explanations for the Gita.
Arjuna prayed to the Lord to pardon his indiscretions. By omission, he called Him a friend, by the name Krishna, comrade and Yadav. This is the realization in Arjuna that the Lord is not an individual. It is also the realization that the individual I considered as my father, mother, wife, friend, child, husband, etc. so far is not that person in the real sense. There can be dialogue only between individuals. He is not an individual, and all our arguments are irrelevant. He is a presence – experience it, remove Him from all boundaries of names and forms.
All rituals are meant for developing concentration through submission for arriving at a meditative state of mind. These rituals are not to be done by others for you. They are to be done by you without any compulsion from outside. Arjuna is addressing Him as Viswa moorthe (Oh! the one with the universal form!). Only when we remove Him from all imageries of individual forms would HE become the Viswa moorthy. If we ‘see’ Him in one form; we are limiting Him to just that one form. He has thousand hands; we also have thousand hands and that many possibilities.
Krishna assures Arjuna that no one else would be able to see the Viswa roopam, even if they do scriptural studies, charity work or penance. Here Arjuna represents us, who are keen and anxious to know. The Lord consoles Arjuna by telling him not to be scared or mesmerized by His terrible form. Then he assumes the noble form of Sri Krishna. In the universe there are two forms- one that we like and the other, we don’t. Some people see only the drawbacks and problems in life. Only when we work with the attitude of ‘everything is Lord’ would our knowledge turn into wisdom. In that wisdom, the Lord becomes the Father of the universe, guru, air, death, fire, god of the seas, Varuna, Moon, creator, ancestor, etc, etc. Bow down and prostrate to the earth by submitting own body unto it. Think of the path you traversed. With this attitude of humility, we should see the universe. Then each of us will find and develop our own explanations for the Gita.
# posted by Sukumar Canada @ 7:16 PM 
