Hindus, the overwhelming majority of us at least (we could would say around 90%), have done a marvelous job of misinterpreting and misunderstanding in every conceivable way almost every scripture which we have inherited from our great Hindu forefathers. It is not surprising that this perversion is so starkly evident in the most widely read and revered Hindu scripture of all, the Bhagavad Gita, especially with respect to the following words of the great Lord of Lords: “Whenever the Dharma shall suffer a decline and the forces of Adharma are on the upswing I will loose myself forth into existence to protect the people of the Dharma, and to destroy all those who stand in the way of the Dharma.” Often we hear this refrain that the state of affairs is so bad at present that we need an Avatar to descend into the cesspool of humanity and uplift it to a new level. We Hindus have developed a habit of justifying our own inactivity by citing the above words of Lord Sri Krishna from the very scripture of warriors. It seems that every Hindu loud bang has to end with this sorry whimper: “Krishna!! Please come down and help me !!! “ From so many Hindus in various places including social networks facebook and email threads at various times one hears the same thing, so much so that this weep-ish outpouring of miserable helplessness, this grovelling refusal to confront the grim reality of India and the world has become the premier hallmark of any Hindu. A closer look at the context in which these words were uttered by Krishna will make it perfectly clear in what ugly manner we present-day Hindus (who are, in my humble opinion, entirely unworthy of the title ‘Arya‘) have debased and perverted their true meaning. Yes indeed Krishna, the very personification of the Parameshvara, Supreme Lord of all, has promised to assume a human form when the Dharma is in grave peril. This is the covenant of the Lord with his Dharma and the people of the Dharma. One cannot deny the importance of this promise, especially because it is uttered just before the beginning of a great and cataclysmic Dharma-Yuddha, the Maha-Bharata, “the great war of India”. It is the assurance given by the guardian of the eternal Hindu Dharma to Arjuna, the foremost Hindu warrior in the army of Dharma. But whence arises the need for this assurance? Why indeed is the Gita sung by the Lord to Arjuna? Let us go back to the very beginning of the Gita and there we find the confident warrior Arjuna, foremost of archers, asking his charioteer Sri Krishna to place him right in between the two armies so that he can look into the eyes of those warriors who have foolishly invited their own destruction by challenging him. And what happens to Arjuna when he looks at the opposing side and realizes that among the enemy are two people whom he loves and reveres as his gods: his great grandfather Bhishma and his beloved Guru Dronacharya? What happens to Arjuna when the realization hits him that all his brothers, comrades and soldiers are depending on him, their most powerful warrior, to finish these two and thus secure victory? Arjuna begins to shake, shiver and tremble. His skin breaks out in goose-pimples. His legs become weak and he is unable to even stand. His body begins to burn and his head starts to whirl. Unable to maintain his composure, his presence of mind destroyed, attacked by a ferocious anxiety the great man slumps into his chariot and weakly admits to Krishna that he is not able any longer to even hold his bow, let alone fight in this great war. In one moment the greatest Hindu warrior of that bygone age is transformed into the meanest Hindu loser of today. It is this great crisis within a great crisis which prompts Sri Krishna to stand up and utter the magnificent Gita, the scripture of warriors, the scripture of the Hindus, with the objective of rescuing Arjuna from his uncharacteristic cowardice and restoring to him his balanced composure, his true warrior-nature. Now my fellow Kshatriyas think for a moment. How easy it would have been for the Supreme Lord, the all-powerful, to simply whip out his divine weapon, the Sudarshana Chakra and utter these words to the despondent warrior Arjuna, (With bollywood cheesy tragedy violins playing in the background)…He says…“My poor, poor child. Do not panic. I am here, no? I will take care of everything. My best friend here I am, and now watch me as I decimate the entire Kaurava army with just this Sudharshana chakra in the very next moment. If you don’t want to do this then I will do it for you. You just sit there and take it easy, and get the harmonium out and sing some bhajans or do some chanting instead OK?” But is this what Sri Krishna does? Are these the words of Sri Krishna to the weeping warrior? NO! NO! NO! The first words that Sri Krishna utters in the Gita are like the unforgiving crack of a merciless whip and they descend upon Arjuna’s heavy pounding heart like sharp arrows launched by his enemies: “Whence has come upon you this cowardice in this time of crisis, Arjuna? It is un-Hindu; it will win you neither heaven nor glory. Do not give into this weakening hopelessness, it does not suit you. Cast aside this mean faint-heartedness and rise to the fight, Arjuna!!” Swami Vivekananda, that Lion of India, wrote that to understand these first few words of Sri Krishna to Arjuna is to understand the entire purpose of the Gita. This claim has an undeniable ring of truth to it, because throughout the rest of the 700 shlokas of the Gita Sri Krishna continues to ceaselessly exhort Arjuna to stand up and fight. “TASMAAD UTTISHTHA KAUNTEYA YUDDHAYA KRITA NISHCHAYA” – THERFORE STAND UP, ARJUNA, DETERMINED TO FIGHT – Throughout the Gita, over and over and over, this is the repeated command of Sri Krishna to Arjuna “Stand up and fight!!” NOT “Sit back, relax and eat loads of greasy prashadam and expand your waistline so you can never see your feet again. “. but instead the Gita is a call to action, and it affirms in no uncertain terms that the Avatar will NOT DO WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DO. He will guide us through all the twists and turns of the conflict, but it is WE WHO HAVE TO FIGHT. When will we Hindus ever understand that even if the Avatar is right in front of our eyes, even then we will have to stand up and fight??!! Those who wait for the Avatar to come down and rescue them can keep on waiting; For the Avatar will come, He will fulfill his mission and go back to wherever He came from, and these “waiters” will not even know it. As for those weaklings who have the good sense to listen to the words of the Avatar as preserved in the immortal Bhagavad Gita, now is the time to STOP WHINING ABOUT INDIA AND THE WORLD, STOP CRYING FOR HINDUS AND HINDUISM. Muster all your remaining strength and STAND UP!! Gather up your spirit and FIGHT!! Fight with whatever you have got!! Heed the words of the God of warriors who walked the soil of our sacred Motherland: “Make equal happiness and sorrow, gain and loss, victory and defeat, and fight!!” Have we Hindus been reduced to simply hurling some quiet abuse from our PCs at our opponents on Facebook while eating pakoras with cups of chai ? O thank God for your enemies, and rejoice in the peril you face. We are the descendants of Hindu warriors like Chhatrapati Shivaji and Rani Durgavati. So rather than whining and whimpering we should take God to task for giving us such few opponents. You say that when the going gets tough the tough get going. But let us not stop there. “WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGHER THE TOUGH GET EVEN HAPPIER.” Have you not realized yet that this is your supreme test? Do you not know, descendant of Hindus , that this supreme trial is designed by your Master to bring out the strength latent within you,the SHAKTI which sleeps deep within the folds of your bloated lethargy? Before your very eyes the Hindu Dharma is being reborn in the womb of this titanic struggle. If you have eyes to see then you will see it. And the Avatar is not far from us, but He oversees this painful birth as the loving mid-wife. Do you not know who your Master is? He is the Undying Protector of the Hinduism. Have you not understood yet that He is not in some far off heaven but within you? At this very moment He is with you and He waits for that moment when you become merely an instrument in his hands. It is His one task to protect and to advance the Dharma, but He will accomplish His mission through His chosen human instruments. Be assured. Every act of yours which is motivated by nothing except the one single desire to protect and to propagate the Dharma is an act of Krishna. All the work that you selflessly do for Hinduism is Sri Krishna working through you. And if the protection and the propagation of the Hindu Dharma is your foremost reason for existing in this world, then be aware that your yourself have become a channel for the power of the Avatar to manifest itself. Although you were not born an Avatar you have become an Avatar, for the Avatar has taken birth within you. Do not wait for Sri Krishna to be born in the world outside. Prepare yourself for the moment He is born within you. Dedicate yourself selflessly to the Dharma and it will be so.more
Posted on: Thu, 26 Sep 2013 02:50:32 +0000
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