Insightful newsletter of Drishtikone - Issue #92: How do I know Krishna?
Mind interprets. It doesn’t experience anything truly. Even an experience has to go through the interpretive process fashioned by the limitations of the mind. Mind’s interpretative experience does not escape the confines of the mind’s quarters.
What is being said by the other is not what is being fully heard. There is a loss in the process. But nothing compares to the ability to spin by the mind. It changes the complete structure of what was said.
That is why word - oral or written - has the least utility on spiritual path. Sound is different. It can be and is used to transmit.
But the Rishis had enough sagacity to know that something that is inherently limited and flawed by its very nature cannot be the conduit for the infinite.
How can the mind, which cannot go beyond its boundaries attempt to even perceive the infinite? It will necessarily reduce it down. This is just the act of perception. To embrace it and be the infinite - is an impossibility from the mind’s standpoint.
That is why the spiritual process does not depend on the verbal or written word. The books can create the urge in you, can push your thinking in a certain direction, but it can not take you there.
That is why Bhagwad Gita is not a book. It’s not even a message. That would have been very easy. Gita is a process. The process that a Guru takes his/her disciple through for spiritual awakening.
When Naren became Swami Vivekananda through Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Gita happened. When Papaji attained to his enlightenment through Ramana Maharishi, Gita happened. When Ram reached his highest with the help of Rishi Vasistha, Gita happened.
Krishna’s greatest and the most unique work was not Bhagwad Gita.
It was he himself.
The consciousness that he was. His greatest gift was what he attained to and has left for all of us to be with. He didn’t go anywhere - Krishna opened up his expanse.
To what he truly was.
Infinite.
“All of us are tethered to some purpose in life, and therefore we are unable to understand Krishna. We live with a goal in life, with a purpose, a motive. Even if we love some one we do so with a purpose; we give our love with a condition, a string attached to it. We always want something in return. Even our love is not purposeless, unconditional, uncontaminated.“ - Osho on Krishna: The Man and his Philosophy
how do I know Krishna?
What Krishna would say to Arjun was already discussed by Rishi Vasistha in Yoga Vasistha. Vasistha had discussed in detail as to what will transpire on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.
It is one thing to speak those words. Quite another to say them in a Kurukshetra. It is one thing to say a “Krishna will happen”. Quite another to have one. World has waited for several thousands of years for such a being to happen.
Bhagwad Gita is not a Message. Not a book. It is a Process.
Bhagwad Gita is not a message. It is certainly not a book. It is a process. A process of raising consciousness. If it was a book, it would have been very easy.
In your love for Krishna, do not bother with saying how much you love Him or are “devoted to Him” for that is immaterial.
All that would matter is - if you were sure within yourself that if Krishna walked in to the room full of people, you will have the wherewithal within you to recognize Him! If you do not have the perception and the ability to recognize Krishna, how the heck will you even share your love with Him?
If you think this is a stupid question - remember, that outside of Vrindavan, only handful of people ever engaged with Him with their complete being. Heck, over 100,000 fought against Him.
How do you know - that if you were there at that time, you would have done any better? Let me be specific - how do you know that you wouldn’t have shot at Krishna to kill Him, if you were at Kurukshetra?
Think you wouldn’t have? Then go to Vrindavan today and check your level of perception. For those who know, Krishna is still there. Did he touch you? Transform you?
If you went to Vrindavan and came back without being transformed, then you know the answer to the Kurukshetra question.
Experience, not the word, is the key.
guess who is backing pakistan at the ICC?
A battle is going on in the International Cricket Council boardroom. On one side is India and on the other it’s Pakistan. Pakistani side insists that the ICC’s new chairperson should be elected on basis of a 2/3rd majority while others - including India, England and Australia - believe election should take place through a simple majority.
And guess who is on the side of Pakistan?
While the India side has 11 member countries. Pakistan side has 7, including non-regulars. And, these:
interim chairman Imran Khwaja, independent director Indra Nooyi, three associated members and PCB on the other.
What is Indra Nooyi doing in Pakistan’s camp?
An India-Pakistan clash building up in ICC boardroom
Cricket News: A section of the ICC’s members, aided by participants in their ecosystem and the PCB, insist that the ICC’s new chairperson should be elected on basis
another twist in SSR case
Every day something new is coming out in the Sushant Singh Rajput case. Now the Ambulance attendant says something that is significant. If true, this could derail the whole suicide theory. There would have been photos taken before the body was brought down. And also forensics would have done their investigation. Does those details have anything to say about this claim by the ambulance attendant?
Sushant Singh Rajput's legs were bent: Ambulance attendant makes shocking revelations
Bollywood’s young and talented actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s untimely and tragic death shook the industry to its core.
does Russia have the COVID vaccine?
Russian President has not just announced it, he has even had it administered to his daughter. So, either it is real. Or he hates his daughter.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announces world’s first COVID-19 vaccine
think before you pray for something!
Father Richard Sutter of St. Gabriel’s Catholic Church was reading a Bible passage related to prophet Elijah. It ran:
“After the wind there was an earthquake — but the LORD was not in the earthquake.” (Source)
And the Church started trembling as a 5.1 magnitude earthquake hit the area. It was the most powerful to hit the state in more than 100 years.
nota bene
Pak-Saudi rift: Pakistan has been pushing for the foreign ministers’ meeting of the 57-member bloc of Muslim countries, the second largest intergovernmental body after the United Nations. Today Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi canceled his briefing on the Saudi ties. Shows that there is a big rift between the two countries now. (Source)
Sanjay Dutt has Cancer: Actor Sanjay Dutt has been detected with stage four lung cancer, said sources at Lilavati hospital who are not authorised to talk to the media. The actor, who was rushed to the hospital on Saturday after he complained of breathlessness (Source)
It’s willy Kamala: Joe Biden has selected Sen. Kamala Harris to be his running mate, elevating a charismatic blue-state senator, former prosecutor and onetime 2020 primary rival. Harris, is the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, but rejects her Indian heritage repeatedly. (Source)
Android-powered Earthquake detection: Google is creating a worldwide, Android phone-powered earthquake alert system. The first part of that system is rolling out today. If you opt in, the accelerometer in your Android phone will become one data point for an algorithm designed to detect earthquakes. Eventually, that system will automatically send warnings to people who could be impacted. It’s a feature made possible through Google’s strengths: the staggering numbers of Android phones around the world and clever use of algorithms on big data. (Source)
Squid is the new Rat: Gene altered squids could be the next lab rats. Until recently, cephalopod research has been hindered by the fact that there’s been no way to manipulate squid or octopus genes. But all that has changed with the first genetically altered squid. (Source)
Ramana - the Sage of Arunachala
Sri Ramana Maharishi was an amazing being. One of the greatest Sages of the past two centuries. People just don’t get beings like him. Sadhguru explains:
Typical of Los Angeles, somebody asked me, “Sadhguru, why are you teaching such long and difficult processes. Ramana Maharshi said you don’t have to do anything and it will happen.” I said, “What he said is right, but you must understand what he meant. Ramana sat down and did nothing for fourteen years. Rats came and bit into his thigh and ate up his flesh; it got worm-infested and he still did nothing. But you are made in a way where if a mosquito bites, you will call 911!”
“You don’t have to do anything.” He meant anything. First understand the significance of “anything”.
Sri Ramana Maharshi - JNANI