GITA FOR CHILDREN - PART 7
Continued from the previous issue….

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1. Krishna continues and says ‘Arjuna, do you know that what I am telling you now is no different from what was taught by Me to your ancient ancestors a long time ago?’

2. Arjuna frowns and asks, ‘Krishna, how could that be? You are almost the same age as me, may be a few years older. How then could You have taught all this to my ancestors?’

3. Krishna smiles and replies, ‘That precisely is the point Arjuna! You are just looking at My physical body and thinking of the age of the body. But I have already told you that I am NOT the body! Indeed, neither are you.’

4. ‘You are the Atma and so am I. When I told you that I taught your ancestor I meant that I, wearing a particular body at that time, taught an embodiment of the Atma that was your physical ancestor.’

5. ‘Arjuna, man has been told repeatedly that he is NOT the body but the Eternal Atma. But, like a weak student, he easily forgets the lesson taught despite many repetitions. Man seems to remember all kinds of trivial and useless information but readily forgets important truths about his real nature.’

6. ‘This is the main reason why I have to incarnate again and again, to teach the same lesson! See how man’s stupidity gives Me so much work? But I love man dearly and therefore I do not mind. Arjuna, man forgets Truth but I don’t – that is the difference between man and God.’

7. ‘Now listen to this carefully. Humans take birth, die, are born again, die again and so on it goes, in a seemingly endless cycle. This repeated birth and death is related to a processing of “settling accounts” one might say.’

8. ‘In a given birth, a human being accumulates some positive as well as some negative points. The positive points come from the good deeds done while the negative points come from the sins committed. It is this accumulation that causes rebirth.’

9. ‘When a person is reborn, he enjoys good luck in proportion to his positive points and bad luck corresponding to the negative points. The positive and the negative are inescapable for a person with an external outlook, that is to say, when the vision is focussed mostly on the world outside.’

10. Arjuna then asks, ‘Krishna, what You say is very disturbing. Is there no way to get out of this rut of repeated birth and death?’

11. Krishna replies, ‘Who said there isn’t any? There sure is; all you have to do surrender to Me. In fact, I have already told you how you can earn God’s Grace. Once you have God’s Grace, nothing can touch you, and you can get off the hook once and for all.’

12. ‘Human birth is called Karma Janma; it means that birth is caused by the consequences of actions performed in earlier births. That is what I just now described in terms of settling accounts.’

13. Arjuna asks, ‘Krishna what about You? Is Your birth also a Karma Janma?’

14. Krishna says in reply, ‘Arjuna, what are you saying? I incarnate, and am not born like you and other ordinary mortals are. I have no accounts to settle! Do you understand that? I come at specific times of My choice for specific purposes. It is all a part of My never-ending Sport or Leela. That is why the Incarnation of God is referred to as Leela Janma.’

15. ‘You want to know more? Here it is! This entire Creation is a Sport or Leela of God. The Universe is the stage and every person is an actor in God’s Cosmic Drama. All the ups and downs that you see in life are a part of this extraordinary Drama.’

16. ‘Now an ordinary play must have a script-writer, a director, a producer and so on. In the Cosmic Drama, all these roles are played by God Himself. He is the Author, the Director, Producer, etc., etc.’

17. ‘Perhaps you have seen in the usual dramas that there is a person hiding behind the screen who whispers the dialogue in case some actor forgets his lines. He is called a prompter. In the Cosmic Drama also something similar happens. When people forget to follow Dharma [which is really the script], God prompts via the Conscience.’

18. ‘However, there are times in history when such prompting alone is not sufficient. God then dons a human form and descends as an Avatar to play a direct role in His own Drama. This way, it becomes much easier for Him to correct man.’

19. ‘Arjuna, whenever the situation demands, I come in human form. Such an Incarnation is called an Avatar.’

20. Arjuna asks, ‘Krishna why and when does God deem it necessary to incarnate?’

21. Krishna replies, ‘Ah, God incarnates whenever wickedness is on the rise and good people are tormented by evil people. The Avatar deals suitably with the wicked and protects the good.’

22. ‘There are many ways in which the Avatar deals with wicked people. When the number of evil doers is relatively small, He arranges for them to be simply disposed off. This is like a surgeon removing cancerous growth.’

23. ‘Do not however imagine that the every time God descends, He would do so with some sort of a weapon to slay people with. Far from it. There are times when vast sections of the population have good and evil coexisting within them. In such an event, the Avatar obviously cannot go around slaying people. Instead, He resorts to an entirely different strategy.’

24. ‘When evil is widespread, the “weapon” that the Avatar uses is the most powerful of them all! The beauty of this “weapon” is that not even a single drop of blood is shed! Isn’t that amazing?’

25. ‘Can you guess what that “weapon” is? I am sure you cannot! It is Love Arjuna, it is Pure and Unselfish Love, Love that gives and forgives, Love gives and also forgets.’

26. Arjuna asks, ‘Krishna, how on earth can just Love alone get rid of the bad guys?’

27. Krishna smiles and says, ‘That is the beauty about Love! You see it does not get rid of wicked people but removes the wickedness in people; got it?’

28. Arjuna asks, ‘Krishna, are you saying that Love transforms the bad into good?’

29. With visible enthusiasm, Krishna replies, ‘Correct, you got it! Transformation is the miracle that Love alone can perform; and that is how a bloodbath is averted. Arjuna, it is a pity that man often tries to solve problems using violence, when Love would do the job far more simply and much better too.’

30. ‘Right now, what is required is surgery but the day will come when the Avatar would be seen as nothing but Love. He would all the time be talking about Love and through His own life put on display the innumerable shades of Pure Love.’

31. ‘Pure Love would scrub away all the contamination in the minds of seekers who come to It. The Avatar can charm and transform people in countless different ways, suited to the mental make up of the person concerned.’

32. Arjuna asks, ‘Krishna, can you tell me some more about the Avatar?’

To be continued…

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