The War Begins

25 May 1996, Summer Course 1996, Brindavan

Published English.

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At all times and in all places, the exists. But people question why the remains unseen. Can anyone obtain the butter latent in milk by mere asking?

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The Universe is a mansion and all the men in the world belong to one family. Selfishness is disastrous, and yet today selfishness has become the very essence of life. The teaches us not to be selfish.

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It is easy to cognise the Divinity that pervades the entire universe, but as long as man is swayed by worldly thoughts, Divinity remains unrealised and unattained. As long as our secular life is marked by narrow-mindedness and parochialism, we will be lost in the world. The same worldly life, touched by sacrifice, love, and selflessness, enables one to enter into the world of . Realisation and non-realisation are dependent upon the paths we follow. Unfortunately, today the outward tendencies have gained dominance over our inward tendencies. Realisation is impossible as long as one is lost in the world of .

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, the embodiment of tendencies, arrived at the seashore on His mission to destroy , which was steeped in . Evil tendencies like ignorance, egoism, and pomp do not allow man to enter into the world of even though he may have intellectual eminence to his credit.

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, , , , and were making arrangements for the massive action to be launched against . divided His army into two sections, headed by on one side and on the other. He pretended as though He was tired and lay on the sands, resting His head on ’s lap.

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It was the night of the full moon. was not really tired, but He pretended that He was. He wished to impart a lesson in the to all those present. He called and said, “! Look at the Moon. See, how splendourously it shines! The moon is immaculately beautiful, without a spot on its face.” Meanwhile, arrived there and heard ’s words. He said, “O ! I see spots in the Moon. Since the Moon is part of (nature), it contains valleys, mountains, and the like. These are visible as spots.” then called and asked the same question. said, “O ! I don’t see any spot. I see only the reflection of Your face in the Moon. Since the Moon is like a mirror, Your face is reflected in the Moon.” The answers given by and reveal their and tendencies respectively.

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joins While was busy talking to them, He saw a person rushing towards Him, calling out His name. This man was followed by four servants. The warriors stopped them and asked them many questions. , who was the person in question, replied: “I come from and am called . I am the brother of , the Emperor of . Since my brother is indulging in nefarious activities against , the incarnation of Lord , I do not wish to live with him. I am a devotee of and I have come to seek His Grace.” Hearing these words of , advised , “Lord! should not be trusted, since he is the brother of our enemy. He has come to spy on our activities and pass on the information to .” Different people advised in different ways. Then said, “O ! A king has two types of enemies, enemies who rise from his own family and clan and enemies who hail from the neighbouring kingdom. This is not of your clan. He does not belong to a neighbouring kingdom of , either. Hence there is no scope for him to harbour any evil against You, like passing on our secrets to . Observe his devotion and treat him accordingly.” appreciated the advice of . He called to one side and asked him to relate his story.

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said to , “There is no limit to the atrocities committed by , though I advised him to mend his actions. I denounced the nefarious activities of and advised him not to enter into war with you. and his son became furious and commanded me to leave the kingdom. They have branded me a traitor. I prayed for the welfare of and left the kingdom. I seek none else but God. I wish to sanctify my life at the feet of God. I have been chanting the name of for a long time. It is the name of that brought and me close to each other in . I don’t need anything in my life except Your Feet. I do not want kith and kin. All I desire is Your proximity.” then said, “, do not be frightened. Your brother will be punished for all his misdeeds. You will soon see this with your own eyes.” He then summoned and , and commanded them to anoint as the future King of . prayed, “Lord, I have not come here with an eye on the Kingdom of . All that I seek is the Kingdom of God. Make me a citizen in that Kingdom or even a servant there.” But crowned him as the Emperor of the Kingdom of , even though the war against had not yet commenced. Despite this, the kept a watchful eye on , lest he betray their secrets to . But trusted to the core since ’s heart was immaculately pure. accepted and declared, “You are Mine.” The Bridge Across the Ocean Hectic preparations were made for the battle against . It was decided that a bridge be built across the ocean to reach . Then, said, “Oh , this ocean was dug by Your ancestors, the sons of . It will be very hard to build a bridge across the ocean. Why don’t You pray to the Lord of the Ocean to make a way for the army to pass through?” thought this to be good advice and decided to pray to the Lord of the Ocean. Despite the intense prayers of , the God of the Ocean did not appear. lost His temper and wished to teach a lesson to the Ocean. As He was preparing to shoot an arrow into the ocean, the God of the Ocean appeared and said, “Oh , you are verily the incarnation of . You know for sure the secrets of the Universe. As the five elements perform their respective duties, I too perform my duties, abiding by rules and regulations. I have in me [a crore is ten million] of living species, and all of them abide by the rules of the Ocean. I cannot give way for a huge army to pass through, but I can render one help to You. Build a bridge and I will see to it that it does not sink in the water. You have in Your army , the son of . Since he is an expert in engineering, he can easily build the bridge across the Ocean.” summoned and asked him whether it was possible for him to build the bridge. replied in the affirmative and said that he was capable of building a bridge stretching even thousands of miles if only he had ’s Grace. then fixed the auspicious time for the construction of the bridge on the next day.

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The warriors brought hundreds of boulders and hurled them into the ocean, but all of them sank in the water. became angry with the Ocean God, feeling he had lied. Then the Lord of the Ocean appeared and said, “, there is nothing in the world that does not sink except Your name. Everything will vanish in the womb of time except Your name. Let the warriors write the name of on the stones and throw them into the ocean.” The warriors wrote the name of and hurled the rocks into the water. The boulders floated, no doubt, but got scattered about in different directions in the ocean. then advised the warriors to write ‘’ on one rock and ‘Ma’ on another so that they get attracted to each other. In this way, the boulders were kept together and the bridge was built.

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(devotion) is of three types: (ordinary), (medium), and (onepointed). Ordinary devotion is marked by ego. Here the egoistic feeling ‘I’ dominates all actions and thoughts. The medium type of devotion is marked by the feeling, “I am in you; you are in me.” is marked by the feeling, “You alone exist. I do not exist at all.” one day said to , “Oh Lord! When I think that I am the body, I am overcome by the feeling that I am Your servant. When I think that I am the individual self, I am overcome by the feeling that You are the object, and I am your reflection. When I know I am the , then I feel that You and I are one.” Thus, revealed. the depths of his devotion.

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, the trickster Meanwhile, made great efforts to inflict more pain on . He commanded , an expert in magic, to make an artificial head like that of , so that he could subject to great anguish and sorrow. He also ordered him to make arrows that were of the exact make as those of . did as he was told. The head and arrows were placed in front of . then went to and said, “, see the fate of . You have always set your hopes high on . He is dead now.” could not endure all this. She was filled with deep agony. She joined her hands and said, “Oh ! Do me the favour of chopping off my head and burning my body along with the head of . I cannot survive without . This is my last wish.” started weeping. At that time received the news from that he should see him immediately to discuss an urgent matter, and left the spot at once. , the wife of , said to , “Mother, there is none in the world who can slay . has many magicians who resort to trickery and deceit. The head of is not the real head. is safe and happy. This is simply an artificial head and you should not worry.” She then placed her hand on the artificial head of . The head vanished instantly.

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On the second day, came to and said, “, is going to die in a few hours. You will be my Queen, and my palace will be yours. No one can satisfactorily describe my wealth, my glory, and my valour. I am omnipotent and omniscient. Make up your mind to marry me.” plucked a blade of grass under her foot and said, “, your wealth in comparison with ’s opulence is as small as this blade of grass. is Immortal, Effulgent, Wise and Eternal. There is a world of difference between you and . You are as low as this lowly blade of grass.” At these words of , became furious and screamed, “, I am giving you only two months’ time; if you do not yield to me, my cook will come here, cut you up into pieces, and serve you as a flavoured dish to me. I will eat your flesh. This is my last warning to you.” So saying, withdrew.

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The next day, a fierce battle raged between the forces of and . Thousands of soldiers belonging to both the sides fell dead. trembled with fear. At one time, all the (monkeys) fell unconscious on the battle ground. who watched the scene, consoled the forces saying that it was due to the magic spells cast by the demons. countered them with his own magic formula, whereupon the fallen heroes arose from the ground. then saw to it that the head of fell in front of . Just as had earlier consoled in her plight and fear, now started consoling , saying, “Oh , who in this world can kill ? Who can touch , the embodiment of chastity? This head of is not the real one but an artificial one.” Enraged at the tricks of , plunged into the battlefield and fought fiercely, but in the end he fainted. then started lamenting, “Oh , I considered you as my sixth vital breath. Today, my sixth vital breath is gone.” pretended as though He wept. came to the spot and directed to bring the herbs of the plant from the Himalayas. Since could not identify the plant, be lifted a big chunk of the mountain and brought it to the battlefield. As soon as the herbal medicine was given, regained consciousness.

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The next day, plunged into the battlefield. This time, could not withstand the attack made by and became exhausted. , the Compassionate One, stopped fighting with on that day, told him to take rest and come on the following day to resume the fight. had compassion even for his enemy, and the battle He fought was a righteous one.

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, the Queen of , strove hard to change the wicked ways of her husband. “You do not know who is. He is the very incarnation of Lord and is the incarnation of . Return to and fall at His feet,” she said, but refused to pay heed to her advice.

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It is very hard to change the ways of evil people. They are swayed by the power of their senses and succumb to them. The six evils of desire, pride, greed, anger, infatuation, and jealousy constantly plague such people. These evil tendencies are our enemies and it is these enemies that destroy our lives. Jealousy is a cancer and anger is a demon. In fact, demons are not a separate species. Rather, people with evil qualities are indeed demons. Demonic tendencies cling tightly to us and it is very difficult to get rid of them. As the body has many parts, the mind, too, has its own parts, which assume perverse forms. The mind outlives the body and finds a habitation in the human body in the next life. Hence, it is necessary to direct the mind toward and not toward . That alone will help.

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What is the ? The essence of the lies in performing all deeds for the pleasure of the Lord. This is the easiest way by which man can find his fulfilment. Unfortunately, man does not follow the obvious and the easiest path but instead takes recourse to difficult paths. Though man’s intelligence has increased by leaps and bounds, his character has declined considerably. One may be a scholar, but one is a zero without common sense and general knowledge. These people have high degrees to their credit, but they are ignorant of ordinary things. The cause for all this is the absence of general knowledge. For want of general knowledge, people are not able to discriminate between good and bad, right and wrong, and fair and foul. Man has to change his worldly tendencies. He must develop the inner sight.

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was enveloped in great sorrow as the warriors started killing the demons. Even the people who did not commit any wrong became victims of this war. The sinner may be one, but the punishment falls on all those around him. Does the roaring fire in a forest burn only the trees and spare the mango trees since they are sweet? The forest fire consumes every tree that comes in its way. The Jasmine in a forest wafts its fragrance to all those around it. Similarly, war kills the good as well as the bad people.

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One day, while was fighting in , he shot an arrow, which accidentally killed a child who was in the arms of its mother. The child was killed in an instant. The mother dropped the child then and there and started fleeing from the place.

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, who noticed this, said to , “Brother, see the selfishness of this lady. Though she is the mother of the child, she has dropped the child and is running away to save her skin. These people of are selfish to the core. They do not have any mercy at all.” Hearing these words, replied, “Oh , you are mistaken in your assessment of this lady. There are good people even in . This woman is running away with a noble intention. See for yourself.” They stopped the lady from running away and asked her, “Why are you running away, leaving your child mercilessly?” To this the lady replied, “I do not attach any importance to the body. The dead do not come back to life. has laid siege to the city to destroy . , after killing , may take the people of to . I wish to live, so that I can enjoy the proximity of Divinity. I wish to be a citizen in ’s Kingdom and I want to serve . That is why I wish to keep my body alive. And I do not have any attachment toward this body.” was stunned noticing the sublime feeling of the lady.

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The righteous Next day, both the armies prepared themselves for the battle. At the break of dawn, ’s forces sounded battle drums, and ’s forces too sounded their battle drums, fiercely. This time, the second son of entered the battle. He cast magic spells which caused much confusion in the flanks. , who knew all the tricks of the demons, countered the magic spells employed by the demons, and saved the forces of . said, “Oh , all of you did not want to accept as a friend in the beginning. But today, he is of the greatest use to us. He is great. He is unique.” correctly assessed the greatness of . was a staunch supporter of . When he found that his brother was indulging in unrighteousness, he denounced his ways and tried to correct him. He did not want to be a party to sin and unrighteousness. When he failed to correct , he gave him up, joined the forces of , and surrendered himself to Divinity. stands superior even to in this respect. Though was a virtuous one, he did not give up the when they resorted to foul and unjust ways. In fact he became a party to sin and unrighteousness, by becoming the commander-in-chief of their forces.

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