Be Emperor – In Gita Verse 2.63 From anger, complete delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost one falls down again into the material pool.
Krishna is explaining scientifically how we fall through our anger. Why from our childhood we are told by our parents, adults, teachers, masters, everyone that anger is bad. Because we become not only unconscious towards ourselves but also towards the objective world. We just fall into hell of our own creation.
Let me explain to you through one of the Zen Story:
A Zen Master was asked by the Emperor of Japan…. The Emperor had come and asked the question.
The Emperor reached the Zen Master and asked him, “What is hell and what is heaven?”
The Zen Master looked at the Emperor and said, “You son-of-a-bitch! Have you looked at your face in the mirror lately? I have never seen such a dirty-looking fellow before!”
The Emperor was enraged! He had not expected such a thing from such a great saint. You don’t know great saints! You know only small, puny saints. A real saint is not a cat, he is a tiger!
The Emperor was so enraged that he pulled his sword out of its sheath. He was going to cut the head of the Master. Just as the sword was coming closer, the Master said, “Wait! You are entering hell. This is the gate to hell.”
The way the Master said “Wait!” was so powerful that the Emperor’s hand was stopped in the middle, and he understood – “True!” He threw the sword away, fell at the feet of the Master, and the Master laughed and said, “This is the way to heaven! You have already experienced both within a single moment. The distance is not far.”
Whenever you are surrendered to existence, whenever you live in trust, love, prayer, joy, celebration, you are in heaven.
Can you see that as soon as the Emperor became angry he even forgot the objective world and his agenda of coming to Zen Master.
We are also in the same situation, when we are angry not only we miss the opportunity of the objective world but opportunity to become self-conscious also.
When the Zen Master abused the Emperor immediately his ego took over the Emperor. Ego and Identity is nothing but our unconsciousness and they are always waiting for opportunity to come in the front. They survive only when we lose connection with our subjectivity. As soon as we are connected with our subjectivity they become our servant to follow and execute our certain work. God has given us ego as we need as a servant to use for our objective world.
Take the example of scientists. How they use all the information of the objective world. Without getting stuck or judgemental about the objective world they like to work on everything available to them. But they just take it as if they have come across that object for the first time. Without any past reference. They don’t have any expectation from that object, but when they take as resources and work on that object, they direct their thinking towards the opportunity and not towards the problem. In the process they are using their ego. They are so alert that they always have realistic checks on their thinking, in which direction their thoughts are going.
If we take all our life circumstances like an opportunity and resources we not only can grow in an objective world but we will be growing in our self-alertness and consciousness only.
Hell and heaven are not somewhere else, but they are in this very moment. If we act from our watchfulness like scientists then there is all the possibility to create heaven. But if we are not watchful like scientists we create hell.
Difference between a successful person and a failure person is only one thing – have a realistic check on our thinking. When you can be self-alert regarding your thinking all the time, in any circumstances you will be able to find out the possibility, your focus will always be on possibility and not on the problem.
Zen Master has shown the Emperor hell and heaven in a single moment, how his emotions, thinking are away from his self-alertness. If he will not give a wake-up call to himself he will be in the dilution which will not allow his intelligence to function, he will become bewildered, and in the process instead of becoming Lotus from the Mud. He will become Mud again, stuck in an objective world. Stuck in an objective world is nothing but misery, unconsciousness, directionless, just wake up like the Emperor and immediately you will create your heaven.
Krishna tells Arjuna that if you come out of your emotions, thinking, like an Emperor you will be able to know yourself. There is only one thing that can make you an Emperor, and that is your own being, knowing yourself.
Tags: Be Emperor
