Own Being – In Gita Verse 3.20 Kings such as Janaka attained perfection solely by performance of prescribed duties. Therefore, just for the sake of educating the people in general, you should perform your work.
Krishna gives Janaka’s example.
When Janaka realised himself the first thing he said was – Amazing am I, I bow down to myself. I have nothing at all, or I have all that can be encompassed by speech or thought.
Janak is saying in one sense nothing is his because he is not. He no longer exists, how can ‘his’ exist? So in one sense nothing is his and in another sense everything is his. As ‘he’ no longer is, only existence remains in him; godliness remains, and everything belongs to it. This paradox has happened, where it seems nothing is his and everything is his.
The day you become an observer is the day you become Buddha, Ashtavakra, Krishna…that day you become all. When you become an observer you become the centre of the universe. You disappear from this side; you are fulfilled from that side. You lose this small ‘I’, this small droplet – and gain the infinite ocean.
Janaka’s this words are the sutras for worshipping your own being. These sutras are saying that you yourself are the devotee, you yourself are the divine. These sutras say you are the one worthy of adoration and you are the adorer. These sutras are saying that both are present inside you: allow them to meet! These sutras are saying something very unique: bend down to your own feet, lose yourself within yourself, drown inside yourself! Your devotee and your God are inside you. Let the union happen there, let the fusion happen.
The revolution will happen when inside you your devotee and your godliness meet and become one. Neither God nor devotee will remain. Something will remain – without form, without attributes, beyond limit, beyond death, beyond time, beyond space. Duality will disappear, nonduality will remain.
The first glimpses of these nondual moments are what we call meditation. When these nondual moments start becoming stable it is what we call ‘samadhi with seed’. And when this nondual moment becomes permanent, becomes so stable there is no way it can be dismissed – this is what we call ‘seedless samadhi, with no-mind’.
This can happen in two ways – either just by awareness, as it happened to Janak, merely through understanding…. But great intelligence is needed, sharp intelligence is needed, great intensity is needed – a very sharp-edged awareness is needed within you. It can happen immediately! If you find this happening, good. If you find that it is not happening, then don’t sit repeating these sutras. It will not happen from repeating them. These sutras are such that if it happens while listening to them, then it happens; if while listening you miss, then even if you repeat them a million times it won’t happen, because it does not happen through repetition. The sharpness of your brain does not come through repetition; through repetition its edge is lost.
One way is if it happens when you hear these sutras. If it happens, it happens, you cannot do anything. If it doesn’t happen, then slowly, slowly you will have to start with meditation, from meditation to samadhi with mind, from samadhi with mind to samadhi with no-mind – you will have to make the journey. If the leap happens, then good; if not you will have to go down the steps.
Krishna tells Arjuna that work and prayers are not different. They are the same. With self-consciousness any work is done is prayer. While educating ourselves of any syllabus unless we learn self-consciousness our act will not become prayer. We may have prayer time but in our actions it will not reflect. The moment Janaka realised himself, his Mundane Words became Sutras. He gave life to his words by being his presence in his words. He was present, himself through his words. So Arjuna doesn’t get stuck to the words, and becomes self-conscious. In my blog Bhagavad Gita Verse 3.15, I wrote regarding how the vedas are not words but flow, wisdom, moving. Let your act become prayer.
Tags: Own Being
