Читать книгу The Gita Happiness Retreat - Sheetal - Страница 8
Оглавление“Let’s continue the session.
You all have a note pad which is given to you along with a pen. I want you to write down the names of all the people who matter to you, including your own name? Time is 1 minute.
Okay times up. Please count and tell me numbers randomly on your list. Anyone. Some said, “15, 20, 25, 40”. Now I want you to think and circle those names whom you are very close to, rest cross the remaining. Time is 15 sec. Please count and tell me numbers randomly on your list. Anyone. Some said, “3, 5, 7, 10”. Aren’t they you, your family and friends? Everyone nodded. Anyone crossed their own name?” Thankfully there was no one.
“In the two day spiritual session we are going to understand the importance of relationships and how to manage them with the help of The Bhagavad Gita.
There are 46 Shlokas in Chapter 1 of The Bhagavad Gita. I request each participant to read one shloka each that is translated in English. Here is The Bhagavad Gita.” Everyone started reading one after the other.
Observing the Armies on the Battlefield of Kurukshetra:
Dhritarashtra said: O Sanjaya, after my sons and the sons of Pandu assembled in the place of pilgrimage at Kurukshetra, desiring to fight, what did they do?
Sanjaya said: O King, after looking over the army arranged in military formation by the sons of Pandu, King Duryodhana went to his teacher Dronacharya and spoke the following words.
O my teacher, observe the great army of the sons of Pandu, so expertly arranged by your intelligent disciple the son of Drupada.
Here in this army are many brave archers equal in fighting to Bhima and Arjuna: great fighters like Yuyudhana, Virata and Drupada.
There are also great heroic, powerful fighters like Dhrishtaketu, Chekitana, Kashiraja, Purujit, Kuntibhoja and Saibya.
There are the mighty Yudhamanyu, the very powerful Uttamauja, the son of Subhadra and the sons of Draupadi. All these warriors are great chariot fighters.
But for your information, O best of the brahmanas let me tell you about the captains who are especially qualified to lead my military force.
There are personalities like you, Bhishma, Karna, Kripa, Ashvatthama, Vikarna and the son of Somadatta called Bhurishravas, who are always victorious in battle.
There are many other heroes who are prepared to lay down their lives for my sake. All of them are well equipped with different kinds of weapons, and all are experienced in military science.
Our strength is immeasurable, and we are perfectly protected by Grandfather Bhishma, whereas the strength of the Pandavas, carefully protected by Bhima, is limited.
All of you must now give full support to Grandfather Bhishma, as you stand at your respective strategic points into the phalanx of the army.
Then Bhishma, the great courageous grandfather of the Kuru dynasty, the grandfather of the fighters, blew his conchshell very loudly, making a sound like the roar of a lion, giving Duryodhana joy.
After that, the conchshells, drums, bugles, trumpets and horns were all suddenly sounded and the combined sound was thunderous.
On the other side, both Lord Krishna and Arjuna, stationed on a great chariot drawn by white horses, sounded their transcendental (superior) conchshells.
Lord Krishna blew His conchshell, called Panchajanya; Arjuna blew his, the Devadatta; and Bhima, the voracious eater and performer of difficult tough tasks, blew his terrific conchshell called Paundra.
King Yudhishthira, the son of Kunti, blew his conchshell, the Anantavijaya, and Nakula and Sahadeva blew the Sughosh and Manipushpak. That great archer the King of Kasi, the great fighter Shikhandi, Dhrishtadyumna, Virata and the unconquerable Satyaki, Drupada, the sons of Draupadi, and others, O King, such as the mighty-armed son of Subhadra, all blew their respective conchshells.
The blowing of these different conchshells became uproarious. Vibrating both in the sky and on the earth, it shattered the hearts of the sons of Dhritarashtra.
At that time Arjuna, the son of Pandu, seated in the chariot bearing the flag marked with Hanuman, took up his bow and prepared to shoot his arrows. O King, after looking at the sons of Dhritarashtra drawn in military array, Arjuna then spoke to Lord Krishna these words.
Arjuna said: O flawless one, please draw my chariot between the two armies so that I may see those present here, who desire to fight, and with whom I must take on in this great battle.
Let me see those who have come here to fight, wishing to please the evil-minded son of Dhritarashtra.
Sanjaya said: O descendant of Bharata, having thus been addressed by Arjuna, Lord Krishna drew up the fine chariot in the midst of the armies of both parties.
In the presence of Bhishma, Drona and all the other chieftains of the world, Lord Krishna said, just observe, Partha, all the Kurus assembled here.
There Arjuna could see, within the midst of the armies of both parties, his fathers, grandfathers, teachers, maternal uncles, brothers, sons, grandsons, friends, and also his father-in-law and well-wishers.
When the son of Kunti, Arjuna, saw all these different grades of friends and relatives, he became very emotional with compassion and spoke thus.
Arjuna said: My dear Krishna, seeing my friends and relatives present before me in such a fighting spirit, I feel the limbs of my body quivering and my mouth drying up.
My whole body is trembling, my hair is standing on end, my bow Gandiva is slipping from my hand, and my skin is burning.
I am now unable to stand here any longer. I am forgetting myself, and my mind is loosing its balance. I see only causes of misfortune, O Krishna, killer of the Keshi demon.
I do not see how any good can come from killing my own kinsmen in this battle, nor can I, my dear Krishna, desire any subsequent victory, kingdom, or happiness.
O Govinda, of what avail to us are a kingdom, happiness or even life itself when all those for whom we may desire them are now assembled on this battlefield? O Madhusudana, when teachers, fathers, sons, grandfathers, maternal uncles, fathers-in-law, grandsons, brothers-in-law and other relatives are ready to give up their lives and properties and are standing before me, why should I wish to kill them, even though they might otherwise kill me? O maintainer of all living entities, I am not prepared to fight with them even in exchange for the three worlds, let alone this earth. What pleasure will we derive from killing the sons of Dhritarashtra?
Sin will overcome us if we slay such aggressors. Therefore, it is not proper for us to kill the sons of Dhritarashtra and our friends. What should we gain, O Krishna, husband of the goddess of fortune, and how could we be happy by killing our own kinsmen?
O Janardana, although these men, their hearts overtaken by greed, see no fault in killing one’s family or quarreling with friends, why should we, who can see the crime in destroying a family, engage in these acts of sin?
With the destruction of dynasty, the never-ending family tradition is vanquished, and thus the rest of the family becomes involved in irreligion.
When irreligion is prominent in the family, O Krishna, the women of the family become polluted, and from the degradation of womanhood, O descendant of Vrishni, comes unwanted children.
An increase of unwanted population certainly causes hellish life both for the family and for those who destroy the family tradition. The ancestors of such corrupt families fall down, because the performances for offering them food and water are entirely stopped.
By the evil deeds of those who destroy the family tradition and thus give rise to unwanted children, all kinds of community projects and family welfare activities are devastated.
O Krishna, maintainer of the people, I have heard by disciplic succession that those who destroy family traditions dwell always in hell.
Alas, how strange it is that we are preparing to commit greatly sinful acts. Driven by the desire to enjoy royal happiness, we are determined on killing our own kinsmen.
Better for me if the sons of Dhritarashtra, weapons in hand, were to kill me unarmed and unresisting on the battlefield.
Sanjaya said: Arjuna, having thus spoken on the battlefield, cast aside his bow and arrows and sat down on the chariot, his mind overwhelmed with grief.
Now let me Summarize Chapter 1:
As both the armies stand well positioned for battle, Arjuna asked his charioteer friend Lord Krishna, to drive his chariot between the two armies so that he could see the Kaurvas army. Arjuna felt great compassion after seeing his relatives, teachers and friends on the opposite side ready to fight and sacrifice their lives. He must kill them to win the war. Overcome by grief and pity of having to kill his own blood relatives, Arjuna’s body started to tremble, his mind loosing its balance, he became confused. Arjuna got completely immersed in grief caused by attachment and delusion. He started speaking about the evils of war causing destruction of the dynasty; he simply refused and gave up his determination to fight.
I asked, “Can anyone tell me what’s wrong with Arjuna?” One participant replied, “Confused fight or not to fight”. The other said, “He thinks it’s better not to fight this war, this way he won’t need to kill his own blood relatives.” Another participant said, “He felt compassion when he saw his blood relatives ready to lay down their lives and properties to win this war.” One more participant said, “He was overcome with feelings of grief and pity”. One participant asked, “How is this relevant today?”
I said, “Let me share a story with all of you.
Special Horse That Always Wins The Race
One day at a restaurant, I happened to overhear a conversation between two friends. One friend said, “I am not able to stick to one relationship, I have changed three girlfriends in 6 months.” The other friend then said, “Let me share a story with you about a special horse that always wins the race.
Once there was a rich man who used to place bets on different horses in every race. Everyone was surprised to see him winning every time. So, one gentleman went up to him and asked him, “Sir what’s your secret to winning? How is it that you know exactly which is the special horse that will win the race?” The rich man smiled and said, “It’s a secret! When the horses are not racing, I keep a watch on them all the time, I talk to them and I also feed them.” The gentleman asked, “But what’s the connection, I didn’t understand.” The rich man replied, “I decide which special horse will win the upcoming race. I start by feeding that special horse with good food. To the rest of the horses I make them starve or feed them with less food. Also, I talk positive things with that special horse by using encouraging, motivating words and with remaining I talk negative and depressing words. The result is what I get winning on the special horse that I feed with good food and positive talks.”
The other friend looked at his friend and asked, “So what did you learn from this?” First friend said, “It means we too can win in our lives, when we feed ourselves as well as our mind with good, positive thoughts and positive words. For that first I need to become good friends with the girl I really like and then invest decent time to get to know her and then decide to be in a relationship with that girl. Think positive about our relationship. Only by feeding my mind with positive thoughts, will help me achieve success in a relationship.”
The other friend said, “Very well said and learnt. The point of the story is that if we want a stable relationship or a stable life and a balanced mind, we need to feed our mind with positive thoughts. So that we can experience happiness, joy and peace, plus we will be able to achieve whatever we want in our life. If we feed our mind with negative thoughts, we will end up experiencing negativity such as stress, anxiety, fear, anger and sadness. Which will lead us nowhere but to confusion. Imagine achieving success by becoming that special horse that always wins the race.
One participant raised his hand and said, “It’s easy to say think positive but practically things don’t go as planned or as imagined. Our relatives, family, friends, bosses, colleagues, clients, customers or some outsider are just waiting to bark negative thoughts at us and we like fools keep thinking about it over and over again in turn getting ourselves disturbed, sad and upset. So what’s the solution to this?”
I asked everyone, “Let me all ask you a question? If some unknown guest comes to your house knocks at your door, what do you do? Do you just open the door and let that person in or do you see through the keyhole? Of course you see through the keyhole first. Similarly, first we need to find out that negative thought is knocking at your door, how do we do this? By seeing through our inner keyhole. That’s nothing but our “Awareness”. Second thing is to not let it enter your home that’s your mind, how do we do this? By refusing to think about it and telling it to go away, automatically it will go away when you start focusing on the special horse that always wins the race.
I myself have experienced being in trap, feeling sometimes positive and most of the time negative, having mood swings, didn’t really understand what to do. When I asked my friends to help me. One said, “Make it a point that you do not listen to negative talks at all, this will help you stay positive and happy always”. The other friend said, “Think positive in every negative situation you experience”. My best friends taught me how to keep thinking about the special horse that always wins the race.
Finally, this story of the special horse that always wins the race also closely relates to the Bhagavad Gita, where Arjuna is overcome by negative thoughts of grief and pity of having to kill his own blood relatives on the battlefield of Kurukshetra and Lord Krishna helps him to think positive and guides him on how to become that special horse that always wins the race. This teaches us a very important life lesson.
**Lesson No: 3 Think Positive. Feed your mind with positive thoughts always and this will help you focus on achieving success in life.
Silently a hand went up, it was Shikha. “Yes Shikha, any question?” She said, “How can we think positive if the person whom we love cheats on us?” Another participant said, “Madam Arjuna’s feeling of compassion towards his relatives and not being in favor of fighting this war was positive. How is it negative?”
I said, “Is committing suicide, positive thing or negative thing?” Everyone said, “Negative thing”. “Let me share another story with all of you.
One day on a mountaintop, a man was standing right at the edge. He looked sad and depressed. Oh no! He was there to commit suicide. At that very moment Lord Krishna and Arjuna were passing by and they observed and felt that the man was up to something. So they disguised themselves as normal men and went to help him.
Arjuna asked, “What are you trying to do?”
The man said, “I am fed up of my life and want to commit suicide.”
Arjuna asked, “But why? Kindly share your problems with us may be we can help.”
So the man said, “My wife has cheated on me. I cannot accept this fact and cannot see her with someone else. I love her very much so want to release her as well as myself from this stress.”
Arjuna said, “Committing suicide is not the right thing to do or even to think about. For every problem there is a solution. We must never loose hope and never give up. Have you ever thought what will happen to your family after you commit suicide.”
“No human being on this earth is free from problems. We must learn to face our problems and not run away from it. Just think what if you commit suicide now and again in next life you are faced with the same or even worse problems, then what will you do? Commit suicide again. Just think about it.”
Lord Krishna who was silently listening to this conversation said, “Let me help you by sharing the solutions to your problems.”
Lord Krishna looked at the man and said, “My friend are you 100% sure that your wife has cheated on you. Have you spoken with her on this matter. Has she admitted that she has cheated on you?”
“If your answer is no, then do not worry. Go home and talk with your wife openly on this matter.”
“But, if your answer is yes and your wife is guilty of her deed and she wants you to forgive her. My friend, please go ahead forgive her and forget about what happened and move on in your life. I know it will be difficult in the beginning but try to look at the positive side of the person, think of all the good she has done for you and ignore the negatives.”
“Look at it this way. Couples who get divorced on various reasons, don’t they get remarried and accept their new spouse irrespective of their past relationships?
The man asked what if I forgive her now but later she again cheats on me. Lord Krishna smiled and said, “My friend, our body be it a man or a woman is made up of senses which is not in our control. It is controlled by nature. If she cheats on you, talk to her with an open mind. Give her your help, support, love, patience, time and find solution to this problem. Over a period of time, she will realize your love and everything will be fine in your life. If you continue to face issues and you are unable to handle this emotional stress, then my friend your heart will guide you in the right direction. There are two choices in front of you, either you accept her and forgive whatever happened or leave her and move on in your life. Just listen to what your heart says, take the right step and your problems will get sorted out.”
The man was surprised to hear such a point of view and didn’t know how to thank Lord Krishna for this. The man said, “I am very grateful to You for showing me the right direction. My stress has gone. Thank you for guiding me.”
That man then went back to his home with a big smile.
Arjuna asked Lord Krishna, “Had we not seen him at the right time, he would have surely committed suicide. But who will help people like him when we are not there?”
Lord Krishna said, “People don’t realize that their family and friends are actual messengers sent by Me to help them. But in today’s time, people underestimate them and refuse to seek guidance and help because of their ego or of feeling ashamed or embarrassed about what they will think.”
Lord Krishna then said to Arjuna, “Do you remember what happened to you on the battlefield of Kurukshetra? You too were feeling sad, depressed and refused to fight after seeing your blood relatives on the battlefield. Similarly we all feel compassion towards our loved ones and when problems arise we don’t understand what to do, we feel devastated we loose hope and give up. We even refuse to get up and fight for ourselves. So my dearest friend all you need to do is think positive and be determined to find solutions to your problems.”
Everyone in the session looked dumbfounded after hearing this story. I looked at Shikha and first time saw her smile. This made me really happy.
Here comes another life lesson.
**Lesson No: 4 Remember everyone has problems. Discuss your problems with your loved ones. Look for solutions. Never let go the person whom you love.
