Two Great Human Qualities Of Humility And Obedience Characterised The Krishna Avatar

May 1976, Summer Course 1976 - Indian Culture and Spirituality, Ooty

Published English.

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Today what our country requires is idealism. In the social and political sphere, we have to have a goal which will be our ideal which we have to aspire for. In any country and in each sphere, one particular individual may be an ideal. But an individual who in all spheres - in the social, political, spiritual, and economic - is able to guide us is a very rare thing. When we take an overview of our ancient history, we find that there is one such individual who was able to give a lead and set an ideal example in all spheres of activity. was a rare individual. He could be regarded as an ideal for the entire world. But to be able to understand these aspects of , we have to make some attempts and effort. Truly, if we want to comprehend these ideal aspects of , we have to push aside, to some extent, the divinity present in him and concentrate on the human aspects of his life and work. So long as we concentrate on his divine aspects, the good human qualities in him will not come to our attention in the proper perspective. Also, if we remain in the position in which we now are, and if we want to experience the great human qualities which he exhibited, this is not possible.

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Therefore, if today we want to understand and comprehend the human aspects of , we will have to make a journey into the times in which he lived. Many may not have understood this; but if we look at the legends around , then it will become perfectly obvious to us that humility and obedience were two characteristic features of him. People of these times are likely to get some doubt whether humility and obedience are qualities which were, at all, really present in him. The reason for this doubt is that the kind of which we see depicted in the cinemas today, and the description of that we read in the texts of today, differ very much from facts, and hence we get this doubt. In that context, we are also likely to get a doubt as to whether there were such sacred ideas in those times, in .

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Just for the sake of earning some money and for the sake of temporary pleasure, we have been distorting our own sacred history. In fact it has become common practice for us to misrepresent our sacred history. When we see these things, we get the picture that was always fighting with kings and removing them from their thrones. We also think that he was blindly worshipped by his devotees. These are the only two features that we notice. But if we carefully look at the contents of the , written by , we get the unmistakable feeling that humility and obedience were present in in a large measure. In fact, we will see that they were present in excess of what a common man would accept.

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There is one simple illustrative example for this. One day, the battle was raging in a terrible manner, and on that day, was using his deadly weapons. Unable to withstand the fury of , the army was running hither and thither and the were very hurt. hurried to his camp. When he returned to his camp, he found that was engaged in another part of the battlefield and had no help. was suffering from his wounds, suppressed his excitement, and was waiting for ’s return to camp. returned to the camp after some time. was, after all, a human being and was suffering a great deal from the physical injury that was caused by the weapons and could not bear it. In his excitement, he started blaming and his . looked at and said, “What is the use of your and all your penance by which you acquired these sacred weapons? has been causing havoc in our camp and you have not been able to retaliate.” In this manner, when showed excitement, also showed excitement, and both of them were in an excited mood. Each one tried to console the other. went into such a fury that he could not contain himself and was about to hit with the .

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At that critical moment, entered the camp and the humility which was shown by was such that the could never forget it thereafter. held the hands of and pleaded with him and said that in the excitement of war, he should not disobey his brother; and then he went to and touched his feet and said that he will not let go of his feet till he has excused with the fullness of his heart. He told that the Five are like the five (vital airs). If among the five brothers, who are like the five , such differences come up and if these differences be known to the world, what was going to happen to this world? He would not leave the camp until he was assured that had excused .

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In that situation, when found that was showing an unprecedented amount of humility and obedience, tears came out of the eyes of . He said that the humility and obedience shown by were because of the great love which had for the . Immediately he went up to and asked him to forget about the quarrel and apologise to him. We should ask ourselves why put himself in this situation where he had to go and touch the feet of . We will then get the answer that this is because of the affection and love which had for the .

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As a result of his to his devotees, God will be willing to put himself in any objectionable position. is one who demonstrated that as a result of his to his devotees, he is willing to subject himself to any situation. Here, we should ask ourselves whether we should take the human qualities in and appreciate them or take the divine qualities in and take that as an example. In the later case, we will immediately get a doubt as to why he is submitting himself to these things if he is a divine personality. In the context of the society in which we are living, a society which is decrepit in many ways - we should take the human qualities of and study them. Such a study will benefit us.

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He never modified what he wanted to say either to please others or displease others. He always uttered the truth, irrespective of whether it pleases or hurts others. On one occasion wanted to perform a . He called all his brothers and told them that they should support him. The brothers immediately accepted the orders of the eldest brother and said that he was the right person to perform such , and they were ready to help him. The next day he called for various and priests, and he mentioned to them his intention of performing the . The also praised the idea and said that was the right person to do such a thing. They said many things to please him. Next day he also sent for and and told them of his intention of performing the and sought their blessings.

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However, was not satisfied with the approval which he got from these quarters. He thought that was the very basis of all things and he asked to go and bring him. When came, touched his feet and told him of his intention of performing the . listened to all that had to say, very quietly, and with a smile. was not prepared to approve the idea just to please . For a moment he lifted his eyebrows and told that he should give up the idea of performing the because he did not yet have the right to do so. So long as was not the undisputed king of this country and so long as there were other kings like , , and so on, who were equally strong or stronger than him, he would not have the right to perform the . When he is able to conquer and subdue these other kings such as , , and , he will acquire the right to perform the . The reason for this is that to perform any , a certain amount of right was required. To perform a certain , there has to be a lot of wealth and a lot of help coming from the other kings. At that time, could not count on the support of many powerful kings. So long as there were kings who did not regard themselves as his subjects and were ready to help, there would, in fact, be a lot of trouble for the people.

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Here, we should really enquire as to what the reason was for to tell to go and conquer powerful kings like , , and others. These kings were intensely selfish and would do anything in order to maintain themselves in the ruling position. In that process, they were doing a lot of harm to the people with the ultimate objective of selfishly retaining their possessions.

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had the idea that if there are kings who do not have the welfare of the people in their minds, who are only selfish in their approach, there will not be any peace in the world. He thought that such rulers were undesirable and felt that they should be removed. When the ruling power is in the hands of selfish people, knowing that the king will do things which will simply help him in his selfish ambitions, even at the cost of the interests of the people, told that such rulers should be removed. felt that the people in a country are like the organs of a body of the ruler, and the ruler of the country is like the heart of the country so far as the people are concerned. The intimate relationships that exist between the heart and the body should be the kind of intimate relationship that should exist between the ruler and the ruled in a country.

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The country and the body are like the object and the image. Just as an individual makes all attempts to escape from an injury that may be coming to his body, so also when there is some harm that is foreseen for the country, the people of the country should make all attempts to remove such danger. Without any personal motive, very clearly stated that so long as there are such selfish rulers in the country, the country is not going to have any peace and security. So, if wanted to have the right to perform such a , he must first remove such kings.

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accepted the orders of . With the blessing of , he started to first conquer and remove King . With the help from and , it was possible for to remove king from the kingdom. Having done this, prepared for the . himself was ready to give all help to in the conduct of the , and was helping him in every way.

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was entrusting each individual with a specific task. was nominated as the chief priest. was asked to attend to all the preparations for the . was entrusted with the task of receiving the guests. was given the task of giving gifts to various people. As each individual was being given tasks, was also standing with folded hands, and he said, “, you are now the undisputed king of this country and I am one of your subjects, I stand before you and ask that I be given an appropriate task.” was somewhat hurt and said that all the territory and Kingdom of which he was the ruler and all the wealth which he was enjoying were all the result of the divine blessing of , and it was not right for him to ask to be entrusted with work. Then said that at that point of time, should see only the human aspect of and forget the divine aspect. He further said, “You should not look at me and regard me as one individual citizen amongst your people and you should not think of me in the aspect of the divine .” then addressed and said that he should choose any work that he would like. said that he would like to serve everyone, and that he would like to wash the feet of all the guests and sprinkle the water on his head. He requested that this duty be given to him. He stated further to that he was the leader while was the follower and that as a follower he would like to serve people.

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was all-knowing and all-powerful and one should try to understand the meaning of offering to do such service and the humility that underlies such an offer. Truly, in the books that we read, or the cinemas that we see, or in the dramas that we see, when we look at , we come to the conclusion that all the aspects in which he is portrayed are indeed divine aspects and that there is nothing human in him. lived in the ; and for us who live in the , it will be very difficult to understand the human qualities of . If we want to understand ’s conduct, then the right thing for us to do is to go back to ’s time and not bring to our time.

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The young people who really want to understand and comprehend as an ideal human example must be prepared to travel back and look into the times when lived. He was the great individual who set up an example for ideal conduct in the social, political, and spiritual fields.

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On one occasion, was very despondent and he was preparing to commit suicide. Realising and feeling that if this was to be allowed, it would be a very shameful act and a blot on the entire family of the great , went and entreated to refrain from such an act, and convinced him that it should not be done. Under many circumstances and in many difficult situations, he was protecting the as eyelids protect the eyes.

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On one occasion when went as an Ambassador, insulted him and told him that the and were all brothers, and one set of brothers should not be looked at in any special and privileged manner. Even in that situation, was prepared to tell the truth to without fear or favour. He told that there can never be friendship between fire and water. He said that he was always on the side of because the were the embodiments of and they always protected . On the other hand, the were evil and bad people. While the evil and bad people were giving trouble to those who follow the dharmic way of life, could not remain a passive witness to such a situation. In the body, was like the head, was like the shoulders, was like the tummy, and were like the legs, and in that body composed of the , was the heart. So the kind of close relationship that existed between the and was like the relationship that exists between the various parts of the body and the heart. If the that constitutes the body are not true, there is no heart called ; and if there is no heart called , there is no body called the . This kind of a relationship that exists between the on the one hand and on the other was told without fear or favour in an assembly where evil people were sitting, with the intention of hurting and insulting Him. For this, we should take as an ideal example of a person who is willing to speak the truth, irrespective of the consequences.

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This was not a one-way love. The were also regarding as their very life. It is only as a consequence of the which the had for that such a two-way relationship existed.

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The kind of tree that sprouts will be determined by the nature of the seed. The smell which one gets when one has a belch will be determined by the kind of food which one eats. The kind of cake you will get will be determined by the kind of flour you will use in making the cake. When was sent to undertake peace negotiations, the amount of trouble and the hesitation which the brothers had is not easily understood by others. It is very well-known to . The brothers, particularly and , were worried that their elder brother was sending , the , into a court filled with evil people. They were greatly worried about a possible harm these people might do to . Until returned safely after completing the negotiations, and did not even take a sip of water. They were living in fear and dread of getting bad news about and were constantly thinking of and his welfare.

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When returned, the youngest of the , namely , embraced and expressed himself in the following terms, “I was in great hesitation and doubt when , my brother-in-law, was being sent to negotiate peace. I was worried that harm would come to him. Indeed, I was wanting to ask them to drop the idea of sending him for the negotiations; but I thought that if I gave rise to such an expression, it would have been considered a bad omen. So I kept quiet. However, I am glad that has now returned safely.” So saying, he embraced him and expressed great pleasure.

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Because the had such great faith and affection towards , in turn was also protecting them at all times. The kind of connection that exists between God and his devotees is always strengthened by the bonds of . Even could not bind to herself, but was bound down by the of .

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When we look at the of , we get a feeling of terror. When we look back at the story of and , we will realise that when was giving (Seeing the Lord) to , he showed great kindness. But it looked as if was standing in a corner full of fear. At that time, looked at and asked him if he was afraid of the fearsome figure which had come to punish his father; but explained that he was not afraid of the Lord as it was the sweetest form one can comprehend. He said that he was indeed happy to be able to see the Lord. then asked why was afraid. To this replied that he was afraid because the divine vision which he was then having was likely to disappear in a few moments and he would soon be left alone. The fear which was troubling was that God will leave him in this world and disappear. wanted to ask God not to leave him. God’s divine vision and divine beauty are such that only his devotees can appreciate. went on saying that God does not exist anywhere. On the other hand, when said that God will be found wherever we want, to him indeed, God was present wherever he sought him, and this is simply the result of (The thoughts will determine the action). Whatever you have in mind will be reflected back to you as a reality.

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Today, we are performing (ritual worship) to God, and we are worshipping and wanting to follow him. For whose benefit are we doing all these? We are doing all this for our own benefit and not for the benefit of God. The reason why we do all this is that by thinking of the good qualities that are present in God, we will also get such good qualities.

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It is in this context that it has been said . The knowledge of will turn you into himself. Therefore, we should promote good ideas, good ideals, and good thoughts. The result of that is that good will be promoted in us. The real meaning of this is not that God is somewhere and listening to our prayer and that he will come all the way from somewhere to solve our difficulties. In a worldly plane, if someone goes near a person in a position of authority and praises him then he may do some good for the person who praises him, but God is not like this person who is in a position of authority. Even if you pray to God in your mind, His grace will help you. Therefore, prayers to God, singing the glory of God, and thinking of the divine qualities of God are being done by us for our own good and for the purpose of acquiring some of them for ourselves.

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In many ways you are attempting to understand various sacred aspects like the , , etc.; but so long as you just listen to them and do not put them into practice, there will be no good at all. Will the Brinjals described in the help you in any way? However hungry a tiger may be, will it eat a ? There may be any kind of attraction, but a real devotee will never think of things which are worthless. Whatever obstacles may come in your way, provided you do not bend in the context of those obstacles and have your faith firmly implanted in your mind, then we can build up a army.

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I am hoping that you will turn back a little into the history of and look at the ideal life and ideal example which has set before us. You should have that as your objective and develop yourselves as future citizens of this country. I bless you and bring this discourse to a close.