The Relevance of the Bhagavadgita to Humanity 4.5 - Swami Krishnananda.
=================================================================================Wednesday 22, May 2024 07:00.
The Relevance of the Bhagavadgita to Humanity
The First Six Chapters of the Bhagavadgita:
Chapter 4: Stories from the Aranya Parva - 5.
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Do you know the story of how a mouse saved a lion? A lion was caught in a net of a hunter and, without going into the details of it, a little mouse said, “I shall be of some help to you, if you do not harm me.”
The lion inside the net laughed, “You can help me, a little mouse?”
“I may be able to do something.” What did it do? It was waiting for the time when the hunter will come to catch the prey. Every day he used to come at a particular hour. So a few minutes before the time when the hunter was to arrive, the mouse started nibbling at that net, and cut all the knots, and the lion immediately ran out. So a mouse can save a lion.
Therefore, even little animals are not to be neglected. They also have to be taken care of. But, nevertheless, the satisfaction of a spiritually elevated soul is greater. If you satisfy a Christ or a Krishna or a Buddha, it is a greater service than satisfying many others in the world. Well, this is a lesson for us, and also an instruction in the mysteries of creation. There is nothing impossible. In a minute, a miracle can take place.
I will tell you another story. Today I will tell you only stories, nothing else. I am tired, so I will tell stories only. There was a great sage. Due to some error in meditation or through some mistake, he was born as a deer. It is not Jada Bharata, the deer about whom you read in the Bhagavata Mahapurana. Due to the power of meditation, it remembered its past birth. It knew what it was but because it was a deer it was vulnerable, accessible to any hunter. One day it was caught by the hunter. What the hunter did was, he tied a net on one side, set a huge configuration of fire on the second side, let off his hounds on the third side, and on the fourth side, he himself stood with a poisoned arrow directed against the deer. There was no protection. It could not go any direction because all the four sides were covered. Suddenly the deer remembered its previous life, and the great power that was there.
Anyhow, it was a very undecided condition of the future of the Pandavas. Nobody knew what would happen to them, and according to the principles of the exile meted out to them, they had to live incognito for one year. Great troubles they had. It was only after thirteen years of suffering they saw the light of help coming from friends, led by Sri Krishna himself. That is the beginning of spiritual aspiration, righteousness, goodness, and right motivation taking root positively.
Until the Udyoga Parva of the Mahabharata, we do not see any positive light in front of a person. It is all confusion, setbacks. Though there was sometimes a ray of hope descending from heaven in the form of blessings received from Indra and other gods who furnished the Pandavas with weapons and missiles of a mystical type, with all that, they were suffering. And after all, who would like to be unbefriended in the forest? It was the worst thing to be incognito, living unknown, and somehow escaping the notice of other people. When the period of exile was over, all friends came.
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Continued
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