The Lord is the only person who can show us the right path

During the incarnation as Krishna, the Lord asserts His Supreme Nature as and when necessary right from His birth. The entire incarnation teaches us the way to salvation by seeking His feet.

 

Lord Krishna has many names, but as Arjuna's charioteer He is mostly known as Parthasarathy. Partha (son of Pritha) is one of the names of Arjuna and Kunti was originally known as Pritha. Pritha also means the earth and the name Partha can refer to all of us who are born in this earth. The Lord's teaching to Arjuna before the war is thus very pertinent to the whole human race at all times, said Dr. Sudha Seshaiyan in a lecture.

 

When Arjuna had the privilege to choose between Krishna and His army, he rightly chose the Lord, who not merely steered his chariot to safety but also taught him the truths of the Upanishads. Arjuna also faithfully imbibed the essence of what the Lord taught.

 

Arjuna symbolises the dilemma which each one of us face in our day-to-day life. We are all struggling to know the right path as we are generally deluded by the world's attractions and pulls. When engaged in worldly activities with attachment for material gain, we get entangled in the web of samsara. But only when we withdraw from worldly activities and are determined to pursue the path of knowledge, can we transcend samsara. Our ignorance prevents us to choose what is beneficial rather than what is pleasing. Our mind and intellect succumb to the senses that get attracted to the outside world. The Lord is the only person who can help us to overpower the horses (senses) and lead us to the ultimate goal.

 

More than that, the Lord shows that He is a practical exponent of the path of Karma that He taught. His commitment to the task at hand went beyond the demands of driving the chariot with dexterity and with a shrewd grasp of war tactics to taking care of the horses and the chariot as well. It is said that Krishna tended the horses lovingly each evening after the war — bathing their wounds, feeding them and speaking soft words of comfort to alleviate the strain they underwent.

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God expects only simple worship from us!

We wrongly assume that God expects us to resort to difficult modes of worship, when actually He is waiting to show us mercy, if we just fold our hands before Him.

 

In fact, if we undergo any difficulties in the course of our worship, Lord Narayana will shed tears for us. If we hurt, He will be hurt. And since our aim in seeking moksha is to serve Him and to delight in His happiness, we should not do anything that will make Him sad.

 

To do difficult things that hurt us in some way is to doubt His grace, said M. A. Venkatakrishnan in a lecture.

 

The word ‘namaha,' which we use to salute Him, means burden. When we use the word ‘namaha,' He sees the need to save us as an urgent obligation. And He becomes anxious to save us.

 

In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says that He will ensure that the good things we already have will continue to remain, and that He will also grant more good to us.

 

In other words, what we have, shall be made lasting. What we do not have shall be given to us by Him.

 

But instead of merely saying that He shall do these things for us, Krishna says in the Gita that He bears the burden of doing these things.

 

Thus once we surrender at His feet, He feels obligated to save us, and this feeling of being obliged to save becomes almost a burden to Him.

 

And yet, for Him to feel this way, we do not have to trouble ourselves in any way, or think of difficult penances.

 

Just a folding of our hands before Him will do. So, simple worship is enough, for Him to grant us His grace.

 

When He is so ready to give, need we torture ourselves, by resorting to difficult methods of worship? It is said that flowers of thorny plants should not be offered to the Lord.

 

That is because, should a thorn prick our fingers, while we pluck the flowers, He will be unhappy. He gets hurt when a devotee is hurt. This being the case, how would He expect us to suffer in any way, in the name of worship?

 

He is the embodiment of simplicity, and expects only simple worship from us.

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