GITA FOR CHILDREN
PART 21

(Continued from the previous issue)

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Chapter – 8

41. Continuing, Krishna says, ‘But Arjuna, mere bookish knowledge is not enough. Life is a never-ending examination and at every stage you would have to check between right and wrong before acting.

42. Showing some signs of disappointment, Arjuna now asks, ‘Krishna, why does God make life a never-ending exam? Can’t we have a break, some relaxation, and also some fun perhaps?’ 43. Krishna replies, ‘God knows you would complain in this manner. So He offers a concession. He says, “Listen, why are you so bothered about how to get through these exams? Am I not sitting there right within you in your Heart? And am I not always available to give you the answers to questions you are unable to answer yourself? Just activate your Intellect or Buddhi and give Me a ring!”’ 44. ‘Can you ask for a better deal? In the worldly exams, you cannot have such consultations during exams but in God’s exam, you have this privilege!’ 45. ‘Arjuna, in essence, only in man can one see the third strand of evolution in action, i.e, the strand of Consciousness. Where Consciousness is concerned, some are at the very bottom. Some are in the middle, while a handful are at the top.’ 46. ‘All that I am now telling you is closely related to the cycle of repeated births and death. If a person resists spiritual evolution, then I am afraid that that person would have to go through innumerable birth cycles to achieve spiritual refinement. And in the process, he has to face all kinds of problems. But one does not have to get stuck like this. All one has to do is to surrender to Me, place full faith in Me, and I shall take care of the rest.’ 47. ‘This brings Me to the topic of the time of death and the right time to die. There is a lot of confusion regarding this, and I do not want you to be misled by popular misconceptions.’

48. ‘First and foremost, I wish to stress that if you manage to think of Me at the moment you are giving up your body, then all your problems are over! You will instantly merge in Me; no more rebirth and all the hassles associated with human existence here on earth.’

49. ‘That is a bargain offer, is it not?! Unlike the commercial bargains that are usually available only at festival times, My offer is available all the time to all people everywhere!’

50. ‘But I must caution you that thinking of Me at just the last minute is not easy.’

51. Arjuna comments, ‘I knew that there would be a fine print somewhere! If it is not easy, then Krishna why are You bothering to mention it at all?’

52. Krishna smiles and replies, ‘Arjuna, you have got it all wrong. There is no catch anywhere as you seem to imagine. All I am saying is that you must make sure you think of Me at the last moment. You see, man spends all his life absorbed in the outside world. You may protest and ask what else is one supposed to do. Can one be sitting in Meditation all the time?’

53. ‘No Arjuna, I am not suggesting anything like that at all. I know very well that people would be busy all the time with worldly activities. They would be preoccupied with family problems, health problems, financial problems, and so on. All this I know.’

54. ‘I am not asking anyone to run away from these or bury their heads in sand. Not at all. Don’t you realise that right now I am asking you not to run away from battle but to enter it? Then what? My simple formula is, “Do what you have to do but keep chanting My Name all the time”. That is all.’

55. ‘What I am suggesting is not at all difficult. It is just a matter of regular practice. You are an expert archer. How did you become one such? Was it not through constant practice. Without such practice can you react suddenly, say if you were in danger? I am saying the same sort of thing. If you cultivate the habit of constantly chanting My Name, then you would do it automatically in the last minute. Where is the trickery here?’ 56. Arjuna now asks, ‘Granted. But then, Krishna, You are known by so many Names. Which of these am I supposed to chant?’ 57. Krishna replies with a smile, ‘You can choose any Name of Mine that you like, any Name. Just make sure that when you chant, you do so with feeling and Love, that is all. But unfortunately, people do not bother to follow this very easy prescription. That is the problem.’ 58. Arjuna now asks, ‘What happens to people who fail to merge in You after death?’

59. Krishna replies, ‘Well, death must come to all bodies – that is the law of the Universe; no escape from that. The good enjoy a good after-life while the evil ones have a rough time.’

60. ‘Now there is a folklore related to the fact that during the year, the Sun spends six months over the northern hemisphere and six months over the southern hemisphere. Based on this, somehow the idea developed that good people die during the bright period that is, during the period when the Sun is in the North. In the same way, the bad people were supposed to die during the dark period.’

61. ‘This myth is a gross distortion of the spiritual truth. The fact is that good people are those who follow the Path of Wisdom. Wisdom and Knowledge are normally associated with light. That is what made people to think that the good alone die during the bright period. These people who speculated thus did not understand the difference between physical brightness and Spiritual brightness.’

62. ‘Good people are always guided by Spiritual light, and their life automatically ends in Spiritual brightness. That is all. The fate after death has nothing to do with the Sun being in the North or the South at the time of death but on how you are here on earth.’

63. ‘So once again Arjuna, the bottom line is: “Think of Me always, under all circumstances.” If you do so, then I would be there to receive you at the last moment, and after that you are guaranteed a bright future, shall I say?!’

(To be continued...)

– Heart2Heart Team

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