GITA FOR CHILDREN - PART 5
Continued from the previous issue….

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14. ‘People imagine that sacrifice means giving up something valuable or giving away something precious, something that you would very much like to keep for yourself. This is a very limited interpretation of the word sacrifice. I use that word in a larger sense. I would in fact prefer to use the word offering in place of the word sacrifice.’

15. ‘Here I should caution you about what happens when the key principle is misunderstood and followed in a mistaken fashion. For example, many people think they should give charity so that they can go to heaven. This is wrong. When charity is given this way, the giver of charity starts feeling he is superior to the one receiving. Giving should not at all be done that way. One must give as a loving offering to a brother, who also is a child of God. In other words, the spirit must be one of sharing and caring, and not of condescension, and without any expectations of any kind from anybody.’

16. ‘The people who give charity and food to beggars with the idea of booking a seat in heaven are really trying to make a business deal! God is so kind that He may even reserve a seat in heaven for such people. But Arjuna, God should not be trivialised like this by asking Him for trinkets! You may be a businessman but God is not. Remember that!’

17. ‘Well, how then should one relate to God? That is your unstated question, is it not? The answer is simple. Look upon God as your Father, Mother, Guru, and even Friend. Are you surprised? You should not be because God is the only true Friend you can have. All others would make themselves scarce when you need assistance and help most. God is not like that. On the contrary, it is in those dire moments that He would be closest to you. Also, do whatever you are doing for God’s pleasure.’

18. ‘For example, right now I am asking you to fight. When you start fighting say, “God, I offer this duty I am doing as a soldier to You. Please accept it as my loving offering to You! I want nothing in return but Your Grace and Love”.’

19. ‘Everyone can make an offering to God in this manner, including a cobbler. Are you wondering how the cobbler ought to pray? Simple. He should just say, “Lord, in Your Cosmic Drama You have given me this particular role. My prayer to You is that a) I do my job to the best of my ability, and b) my slippers bring comfort and satisfaction to the buyer, who is none other than You in disguise. When my customer is satisfied, it means that You are satisfied!”’

20. ‘So you see how perfection combined with selflessness can readily sanctify action. Every act without exception, including the smallest, can be sanctified in this manner.’

21. ‘Take food. You are able to eat on account of God’s Grace and not because of your salary. But for God’s Grace, you would be jobless and hungry. Having received food as Divine Grace, how do you express your gratitude to God? By sharing your food with someone else. Give some food first to a starving soul, see him happy, and then eat. That would fill you also with happiness.’

22. ‘Arjuna, it is a sin to eat without first sharing your food with some other person. Suppose no one is available; no problem. Share it with some birds or even ants. In any case, you can always offer the food first to God. In fact this is a must I would say.’

23. ‘When you so offer, say a simple prayer, “O God, who is in me and taking care of me all the time in a thousand different ways that I am not even aware of, I offer this food to You, my Indweller. Please accept.”’

24. ‘No Arjuna, this is not a gimmick. It is an attitude of Mind that reflects the virtues of the Heart. See God everywhere and try to please Him with all the actions that you perform. God does not expect anything special from you. He would be extremely happy if you transform your duty into devotion and work into worship by following My simple formula.’

25. Arjuna says, ‘Krishna, all this is fine, but what has it got to do with the Path of Action and the Path of Wisdom that You were telling me about?’

26. Krishna replies, ‘Arjuna, that precisely is what I am coming to now. When your Mind is full of thoughts of God and your Heart is immersed in God, you would automatically become Wise! Yad Bhavam, Tat Bhavati. As you feel, so you become. Think of God who is the Embodiment of Knowledge all the time, and you automatically become Wise yourself – that’s all! Thus, for the man on the Path of Action, the three steps are: Work- Worship- Wisdom.’

27. ‘Let Me now tell you something about the man who is following the Path of Wisdom. Such a man is inward-looking, that is to say, for him the world is essentially inside.’

28. ‘What does this man find inside? He sees God seated in his Heart. He sees the Heart as the symbol of Perfection and Absolute Purity. He sees God seething with Love. Becoming absorbed in that Love, he gets charged with it.’

29. ‘So charged is he with Love, that when he starts looking out into the world, he sees only Love everywhere. To him, nothing outside is bad, though ordinary mortals might see some things as good and others as bad. This man is above all such duality.’

30. ‘The inward-looking man is one of Wisdom. He might seem a strange person to ordinary people, but he is neither strange nor mad. He is his True Self and in his Natural State, the State of Bliss. If at all he is mad, he is mad about God. But then Arjuna, tell Me who in this world is not mad? Some are mad about money, some about power, some about position and so on. Compared to all these types of madness, is not being mad about God much better?’

31. ‘The Wise are always in a State of Bliss. At times, they might appear to be in a trance. At times, they would be happily singing to themselves or rather the God within, and at times they would be just dancing with joy! Obviously such people are very rare, about one in a billion or so, but believe Me, they do exist.’

32. Arjuna says, ‘Krishna, the way You describe, these Wise men as You call them, appear to live in their own world and have nothing whatsoever to do with the world we ordinary mortals live in. Is that true?’

33. Krishna smiles and replies, ‘Well Arjuna, really speaking, the Wise do not have duties to perform in the sense you have. You have to perform duty in order to attain fulfilment. This they achieve in an entirely different way. Yet, in their own way, the Wise too act and serve in this world.’

34. ‘You want to know how? Let Me explain. By their very nature, the Wise “radiate” Peace. They have a captivating aura of Supreme Calm about them. They are ever smiling. Troubled souls therefore go to such people to have their Darshan, and when they do so, they feel at peace themselves, at least for a while. Is not applying the balm of Shanti a service? How many people are there in this troubled world who can render such service? Shining with the Effulgence of Love, speaking softly, gently and soothingly, is also service, in fact extremely valuable service. Thus, the Wise act as Lighthouses in a stormy world. ’

To be continued…

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