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Posted on: Oct 13, 2017
How Krishna Recreated Brindavan
Dr. K. Anil Kumar
Part 03
Dying to be with Him and in the Process Being Reborn
In fact once in a while before going for darshan He used to come and sweetly punch some boys, especially those with big bellies. He used to call them pakodas.
Bhagawan once mentioned that Puttaparthi is more like His office and Brindavan is His home. In those early years the setting was such. There were deer there. It was very similar to the way Krishna spent time with the gopalas and gopikas.
We used to sometimes not go to the college, and just hang around in the garden whenever He was there. He would ask us, “Do you have classes?” and we would be silent. Then He used to smile as if to say, “It is ok”.
We used to feel that He was conveying, “You need not go every day for this routine secular education.” In those days we used to go to the city for classes; we were studying in Bangalore university.
After our university came into being, Bhagawan became like the Chancellor. Earlier, He was Krishna. Now He became strict about everything. We used to feel, “Why is Swami taking the chancellor's role? Why can't He be the same Krishna again?”
Like the gopikas and gopalas, we used to all the time think, “What else can I do so that I can spend one more moment with the Lord?”
There were two chances which used to take us close to Him physically. One was the postman coming with the telegrams. These could be handed over to Swami directly.
So we used to wait for the postman and virtually pounce on him to snatch away the telegrams. Because the one who had the telegrams had the right of entry into any room except the interview room.
One could go straight to wherever He is and give it to Him.
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The second opportunity was when a lotus bloomed in one of the ponds in the college. Whenever the gardener Amarnath got a lotus we used to grab it from his hand to give it to Swami.
Once I secured this opportunity. So I took the lotus and went inside the safe room. Swami looked at me and extended His hand. As I gave Him the flower, He said, “I do not want this. I want your hridaya pushpam (the flower of our heart).”
The lessons were always coming. We had to be alert and aware.
I remember even in Puttaparthi when Swami was living in the Mandir, we used to be standing below till He went up and retired because we never knew when He would open the door and look out.
Many days we used to be in the Mandir all the time because sometimes in the afternoons also He would come down.
I can't forget one particular incident.
Somehow that day I got the urge to come to the Mandir in the afternoon. I went into the Bhajan Hall. It was 2 pm. Since it was November, preparations for the birthday celebrations had begun.
Inside the Hall, the silver decoration in the altar was being polished. The big photograph of Swami was removed from the altar and kept below, resting on a wall.
As I was watching all this, suddenly Swami came in and started looking at the work. There was nobody else there other than the workmen. Swami spoke to them.
Incidentally I was standing next to Swami's big photograph.
After Bhagawan finished talking to them, He was walking back. All at once He looked at me and now started coming close to me. There was a beautiful smile on His face.
Once He came near, He looked at me and the photo beside me and asked, “Who is the one in the photograph?”
I immediately said, “Swami, it is You!”
“What is He to you?” He asked again.
I said, “Swami, my everything!”
Bhagawan did not accept this and said, “No, No, No. You are He!” and then walked away.
Even in such a casual moment, Bhagawan conveyed only the ultimate principle. In fact there was not a moment anytime when He conveyed anything other than advaita.
Ruminating on just one or two such moments is enough. It will liberate us.
When He asked me “What is He to you?” I was thinking what to say because there was one important message He told us earlier in His discourses - “Have a relationship with Me, be it mother, father or friend and I will respond. Have a relationship with God and you will be rewarded!”
Let me go to another experience to amplify this message.
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What Happens When the Avatar Descends
In 1984, Swami gave a series of discourses on the Bhagavad Gita in the Bhajan Hall every evening. Immediately after college all of us used to rush to Mandir. There would generally be a talk prior to His discourse.
All of us learnt the twelfth chapter of Bhagavad Gita and used to recite it those days.
During this time one of the faculty members had a doubt: “Is there something wrong or have we not understood what Krishna has said? Because in the Gita Krishna says that whenever there is a decline of dharma, the Lord comes down as an Avatar to restore righteousness.
“But then if you see, dharma has only declined after every avatar. After Rama's advent in the Treta yuga, dharma went down, and so you had Krishna in the Dwapara yuga. After Krishna left, came Kali Yuga, and dharma now has gone down even further. So in a sense the Avatar has failed at every instance.”
The faculty member discussed this with some of his colleagues in the morning. No one had any answer.
In the evening when Bhagawan started speaking even though He was talking about the twelfth chapter of the Gita, suddenly He changed track and spoke about the stanza of the Gita which talks about Avatars and said, “People think that Krishna promised that He would uplift dharma but every time He came there was only decline of dharma.
“What is the dharma that Krishna is referring to in the Gita? There are two kinds of dharma: deha dharma and Atma dharma. Deha dharma functions as per the cycle of time. The body grows and decays. God is not concerned about deha dharma.
“The important thing is Atma dharma. What is Atma dharma? Atma dharma is Prema dharma. It is the relationship between the jivatma and the paramatma – the individual soul and the Supreme Soul. When that decays, God comes down to revive and restore.
“It is because Krishna came that we had gopikas and later Meera and Surdas. It is because Rama came that we had the devoted people of Ayodhya, the monkeys and Hanuman. Tyagaraja emerged because of Rama. So the Avatar's goal is only to restore this link of man with God!”
Today so many of us have such a beautiful relationship with Him because Swami came down in a physical form. For millions of us, He is the only one we link to. He is the goal and He is the means to the goal.
A minuscule number of people might have had physical interaction with Him, still He is the centre of the lives of millions.
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Unlocking Our Unseen Strength
That is what Krishna did. You get so enamoured by His love, His music, His magic and everything about Him that you get attached to Him. Once you get attached to Him, He slowly withdraws that form and now you cannot live without it. You want to search for it and you don't get it outside. Now you have no option but to go inside to find Him.
In fact this is what Swami told in an interview in 1999. It was the first time I heard Him say it. Earlier He did mention many times about meditation and said, “Think of My form”. But this interaction was special.
He looked at all of us during that interview and then pointing to Himself, He asked, “How long do you want to run behind this body? Unseen Swami is more powerful than the seen Swami!”
He gave examples and explained, “Unseen roots are the ones that sustain the tree. Unseen foundation is the one which is responsible for the mansion. Unseen force is more powerful than the seen force. How long do you want to run after this body?”
I thought that was an opportunity I should not miss. So I asked, “Swami, how do I contact this unseen Swami?”
First He joked, “You have done Ph.D. Don't you know that much?”
I said, “Swami please tell, how do I contact this unseen Swami?”
I thought it would be a great revelation from Him but He gave a very simple answer. He just looked at me and said, “I have been telling this from the beginning. Love... love.”
How could Meera connect to the unseen Krishna? It was because of love. The gopikas could connect to Krishna even when He was in Mathura because of their love for Him. So, it is that love and the bond of love that connects us to the unseen Swami.
The time we have spent with the ‘seen’ Avatar is to create that bond of love. Now we have to nurture it and live in it to get connected to the ‘unseen’ Swami.
It is just like an iceberg. They say more than 80-90% of the iceberg is actually within the water. What is seen outside is actually little.
What is unseen is the most powerful part of our relationship with Bhagawan and that is what we should cultivate. That is what will power us, strengthen us and continue to give us the joy of living with Him all the time.
We can't afford to be away from this loving and beautiful Lord. Swami used to say “Edabatu” in Telugu, which means ‘separation from Him even for a moment’.
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We don't want to be separated from Him even for a second. We can have that continuous contact only through constant attention on Him and loving Him.
This is necessary as we do not know when He will open the internal curtain of our hearts. The message that Swami gave me about His photograph saying “That photograph is you” happened because I was loitering around in the Mandir since I did not want to miss any opportunity of having a glimpse of Him.
Owing to my alertness which is also His grace, I got that unexpected blessing from Bhagawan.
Our effort must be to stay constantly alert to the blessing that the Lord is ever willing to give.
Bhagawan once told the students, “There are only two choices. Either you come to Me or I will barge into your heart.” Shirdi Baba also used to say, “I will bring My people to Me like a bird tied to a string.” So there is no choice once we are tied to His string!
It is our opportunity to take the easier route. However even if someone takes a different route, the experience of the divine is always going to be one of sweetness and joy. There can be nothing else with Swami.
Living in Him is the only thing that gives us joy!
- Radio Sai Team
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