Your Birthright – In Gita Verse 9.22 But those who always worship Me with exclusive devotion, meditating on My transcendental form – to them I carry what they lack, and I preserve what they have.
Krishna is encouraging us to start our spiritual journey. He is saying there are two types of wanderer. One is ignorant and another is knowledgeable.
It has been said that those who tread on the path of ignorance or false knowledge certainly wander in darkness, but those who walk on the path of knowledge wander in even deeper darkness.
It is difficult to find another statement as bold as this in the whole history of mankind. It is difficult to find another statement parallel to this in the whole history of mankind that dares to say: “Of course the ignorant wander, but the wise wander in even greater darkness.” Whoever said this arrived at it from a very deep knowledge.
That the ignorant wander in darkness is easily understood by us; there is no difficulty in it. The statement is straightforward and clear. The ignorant certainly wander – but the sage says: in darkness only, not in deep darkness, great darkness. The ignorant only wander in darkness. Then why do the wise wander in an ever greater darkness? And where then remains the possibility to be free from darkness, when the ignorant wander in darkness and the wise wander in even greater darkness?
Why do the ignorant only wander in darkness and not in a very deep darkness? Because however much wandering ignorance may cause, it cannot be that immense. The thing that causes immense wandering is not ignorance but the ego. Mistakes may occur through ignorance, but ignorance is always eager to correct the mistakes, so there is little chance of straying far. Ignorance is always ready to make mistakes, but it is also always ready to correct them. Ignorance has its own humility – remember this. This is why children can learn quickly and the old cannot. Children are ignorant and eagerly ready to be corrected. When a mistake is pointed out to them they will correct it. But when old people are shown their mistakes they are annoyed and refuse to correct them. They will even try to prove that it is not a mistake in the first place. When children are shown mistakes they are ready to admit them and will soon correct them; hence they learn so quickly.
The old cannot learn in years what children are able to learn in days. The capacity of the old to learn decreases. What is the cause? The capacity of the old to learn should increase. But no; he becomes wise. The child is merely ignorant. The old man falls into a deeper and greater darkness; he falls into the delusion that he knows something. The child knows he does not know anything, so he is willing to learn. He is happy to learn whatever you teach him. Thus children only wander in darkness; but the old wander in great darkness.
The ignorant man is humble; and if he becomes conscious of his ignorance, he becomes very humble. If one can remember one’s ignorance, if one can remember that “I do not know, I am ignorant,” then there remains no ground for the ego to stand on. Then the ego can’t find a place to build its palace on. It is interesting to note that if the ignorant man becomes conscious of his ignorance, then his wandering starts coming to an end: mistakes begin to cease; the man begins to fall on the right track. But when the idea catches hold of a knowledgeable person that he is wise, that he is a man of knowing; he begins to enter great darkness.
To commit mistakes is not wrong – commit as many mistakes as possible because that is the way you will be learning more. But don’t commit the same mistake again and again, because that makes you stupid.
Krishna is not interested in telling you to drop your faults, to make yourself good, to improve your character – no, not at all. Krishna is not interested in your character at all; Krishna is interested only in your consciousness.
Become more alert, more conscious. Just go deeper and deeper into yourself till you find the center of your being. You are living on the periphery, and on the periphery there is always turmoil. The deeper you go, the deeper the silence that prevails. And in those experiences of silence, light, joy, your life starts moving into a different dimension. The errors, the mistakes start disappearing.
So don’t be worried about the errors and the mistakes and the faults. Be concerned about one single thing, one single phenomenon; put your total energy into one goal, and that is how to be more conscious, how to be more awakened. If you put your total energy into it, it is going to happen, it is inevitable. It is your birthright.
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