Bhagwan Sri Krishna appeared on this earth and destroyed and swept away the demonic souls. But when Bhagwan left to His abode, even before the completion of His cremation, the demonic souls rose back to power and took away the wives of Sri Krishna.
From the cremation spot, when Arjun was taking the wives of Sri Krishna to a safer place, robbers attacked them, defeated Arjun, made him immovable, and took away the wives of Sri Krishna.
Such a great Arjun, who had single-handedly won the war of Mahabharat, fought with robbers yet couldn’t win over them to protect the wives of Sri Krishna. He had all the weapons that he had during the war. The only difference was that Bhagwan Sri Krishna is not present with him now; the true protector had left earth to His abode.
The robbers tied Arjun so firmly that he was unable to move an inch. They made him lay down so tactfully that he would not be able to sit by himself. That great Arjun who shook the battlefield of Mahabharat is now lying down helplessly unable to protect the wives of Lord Krishna.
The moral is, we should be very careful not to come under the radar of enemies. Even if we are a good-natured soul, we shouldn’t go ahead and fight with internal enemies. That is the surest way to protect our saintliness.
No one’s arrogance is going to win over the most powerful internal enemies. So let us not have arrogant beliefs like “What can happen to me?”, “What can someone do to me?”, “No one can do anything to me,” etc., Let us not be arrogant and just follow Bhagwan’s instructions.
Learn from history
Even Bhagwan’s wives were taken away by robbers; they even made Arjun unmovable.
What does history teach us?
History says, “No one learns from me.”
What is the benefit of learning from history? When we learn from history, there will be no repetition of history.
But the repetition of history is constantly happening: the one who grows up falls; the one who is so fallen rises. And it happens constantly.
If someone learns from history, he stays up always and will never fall.
With little progress we make, we feel great about ourselves and become arrogant. If we have some good virtues, we become arrogant to believe “I’m so good. Who else is as good as me in this world?” thus providing a channel for internal enemies to enter us.
Then the internal enemies that entered us make us immovable like how robbers made Arjun immovable.
Look at history. Bhagwan’s funeral ceremony was not yet complete, and the robbers looted Bhagwan’s wives by making Arjun immovable.
All these incidents happened to the family of Lord Sri Krishna even before the completion of His funeral. It could very well happen to us as well, isn’t it?
One learning from this incident is: We should make all arrangements before our funeral ceremony. Nothing can be done after our funeral.
During those times, eighteen Akshouhini (one Akshouhini contains 218,700 warriors) combined could not even come close to defeating Lord Krishna. Such a great Lord’s cremation was not complete.
(Enemies didn’t let that happen. Samudra Dev did not allow the completion of Sri Krishna’s cremation: Only half of Sri Krishna’s body was burnt, and the other half remained unburnt. Look at history and it will shake our bones.)
Escaping from the attack of enemies is a saintly virtue
A brave soul always tries to attack the enemy. On the other hand, a saintly soul doesn’t attack the enemy but always tries to save himself from the attacks of the enemy.
Not attacking the enemy doesn’t mean to stand in front of the enemy and receive their beatings. It means to make sure to never come under the attacks of the enemy.
Thinking this way is foolishness: We are saints and devotees, and so we don’t attack anyone. You can beat me as much as you can.
Such a thought process is not saintliness but mere foolishness. It might look good but is foolish and lacks commonsense.
Who is called a saint? Can we call a person with no internal enemies a saint? No, the person who escapes from internal enemies is a saint.
There can be no one except Bhagwan who has no internal enemies.
The one who doesn’t make any mistake is Bhagwan; the one who makes a mistake and rectifies it is a saint or a devotee.
Not coming under the influence of internal enemies until death is the skill of a saint. However bad a quality one has, if he escapes from it, he is a saintly soul.
Being alert always to not come under the influence of our internal enemies is the only way to protect our saintliness.
So, follow the instructions of Maharaj
This world is filled with internal enemies; there is not a single place that is free from internal enemies. Yet protecting from internal enemies and making plans to protect from internal enemies is saintliness.
Until the moment we follow the instructions of Maharaj, our saintliness is directly protected by Maharaj. Nishkulanand Swami says that “Be careful. If you want to protect your saintliness, stick to the instructions of Maharaj.”
Let us not do more or less than the instructions of Maharaj. If we do more or less than the instructions of Maharaj, then we are fallen.
Let us strictly follow the five vows of saints and devotees as instructed by Maharaj; let us also not contemplate on opposite-gender and money.
Maharaj’s emphasis was on cutting down contact with opposite-gender. We get desires only when we get in touch with opposite-gender. When we don’t contact opposite-gender, then there is no way for desires to enter us.
After getting in touch with opposite-gender, it is very difficult to control the desire. Only powerful souls can control the desire after getting in touch with the opposite-gender. That skill is called Yogkala. Maharaj said that such a skill was present in Lord Sri Krishna who remained a perfect celibate even while in contact with Gopis. “Other than Narayan, no one has that skill.”
Maharaj said, first cut out the contact of each of the internal enemies. Every internal enemy (like lust, miser, taste, attachment-to-relations, self-admiration) has a sense object associated with it. When we get in touch with a particular sense object, its associated internal enemy enters us. So, we should be careful not to get in touch with the sense objects related to internal enemies.
Once saints prayed Maharaj, “Maharaj, we heard so many stories of souls falling down by contacting opposite-gender. So, we will do everything You order us except preaching to opposite-gender.”
If saints had some attraction to preach to opposite-gender, they wouldn’t have taken such proposal to Maharaj.
By listening to their prayers, Maharaj got pleased with them and said, “These Saints are Nirmohi.”
When they don’t even like to get in contact with opposite-gender, how else can they come under the attack of lust? So Maharaj called them “Nirmohi”.
Even after being in touch, if someone doesn’t come under the attacks of internal enemies, he is called “Nirvasnik”. If a person doesn’t even get in touch, he is called “Nirmohi.”
Which is better between Nirmohi and Nirvasnik?
Moh is greater than Vasna. Moh is the greatest of all. So, being a Nirmohi is better than being a Nirvasnik.
So let us not look at opposite-gender, not even in our thoughts, and let us not contemplate on money. Remember the sufferings we will go through because of attraction to tasty foods and because of attachment to worldly relations. Also, remember the lowly state of life with ego and self-admiration.
Let us keep a check on our five vows, do the worship of Bhagwan and do the seva of Bhagwan and true saint. Only then will our saintliness be undisturbed. If not, we will be a saint or a devotee only in appearance and not in reality.
References
- Chosathpadi Katha Part 26 (Pad 37-40). ✿