Krishna's Grace vs. Arjuna's Willingness—Which Matters More? || Acharya Prashant (2024)

Acharya Prashant

‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant? Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/enquir...   Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books? Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...   Read 3 handpicked wisdom articles, just for you: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articl...  ➖➖➖➖➖➖  #acharyaprashant  Video Information: 25.05.2023, Gita Samagam, Greater Noida   Context: What is the reason behind Arjuna's distress?  What makes Arjuna the ideal student to receive the Gita?  Is Gita Krishna's Grace?  Who is a real Guru?  How did Gita emerged in the middle of a battlefield?   Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~

Transcript

00:00Pranam Acharyaji. Acharyaji, as you mentioned, it was Arjuna who stood in front of Krishna

00:12like a naked baby standing in front of his mother. Arjuna is about emotional outbursts

00:18of a lot of emotions such as humility, openness, surrender, trust and total giving up to all

00:28his resistance. So my question is, is there a disciple who eliminates his masqueraded

00:34identity by exhibiting these emotions or is it that the emphasis is on teacher's grace

00:40and that his teachings flow freely to the disciple who is ready to receive them with

00:45an open heart and mind?

00:53What is it that you are trying to ask? Explain it very simply, as you would explain to a

01:00five-year-old or something. I don't have any IQ beyond that anyway, so.

01:05There are two aspects of it here. One is the outpouring of all the emotions coming from

01:15Arjuna and Arjuna is really open to have the Gita poured on to him by Krishna.

01:28Arjuna does not know that the Gita is on its way. Arjuna is just haplessly expressing his

01:36situation to Krishna. Arjuna does not know what's going to come next. Yes, so that's

01:42one thing. Next? Correct. And Krishna is an ardent teacher. He sees the student in

01:53him and he's willing to give him the knowledge of the Gita and it actually shows the grace

02:06of Krishna. So the question is Krishna's grace versus Arjuna's willingness to surrender

02:16in front of Krishna. Which one is better in comparison or which one is the one which seems

02:27to be more? The question should be which one is relevant to you? What will you do by inquiring

02:35about Krishna's grace? That's Krishna's prerogative. Krishna will take care of his grace if he has to

02:41offer grace. Whatever he has to do. We do not know what grace is. We do not know who Krishna is. How

02:48does it concern us to go into matters of his grace? What is it that's in your control? Your

02:57own preparation, your own willingness. So take care of that. Let Krishna take care of his own

03:01things. Krishna is, I suppose, capable of that. We have to take care of our own situation.

03:14And that's a lot to take care of. Do we have spare time to worry about Krishna's portfolio?

03:22To each his own. To Krishna, what he has to take care of. To us, what we have to take care of. We have to

03:34take care of our honesty, our courage, our discretion. Let's say you expose yourself to some kind of an

03:49imposter who is named Krishna but is not actually Krishna. Correct? What would come out of it?

04:01You have in your complete honesty, with the sole aim of liberation from sorrow, exposed yourself.

04:13Right? That's the only thing that you now want. I am so full of sorrow. I want to be freed.

04:23And if the fellow to whom you have exposed yourself, the person in front of you,

04:29if he is a fraudster, you will not get the liberation that you desire. Correct?

04:35So the decision would be made instantaneously.

04:37Let's say, you very strongly went to that person wanting just one thing. What is that? Liberation.

04:47And that fellow proved incapable of delivering you that one thing.

04:52So the decision is made. You need not remain with that person for long. You are liberated.

04:58And what has liberated you? Your own capability. Your own solid and solo burning desire

05:09which was to just be liberated. So if you just take care of your own side, that is sufficient.

05:17If you meet a Krishna, you will receive grace. If you don't meet a Krishna, you will at least be

05:23saved from imposters. So that is sufficient. And if you are not Arjuna, if you do not

05:33have the right prerequisites from your side, then even a Krishna cannot save you.

05:45Even a Krishna would not even open up.

05:49We said that He is not going to try to save undeserving and unripe

05:58people who are still sticking to prakriti.

06:03He says, you take your time. I am not going to pluck you away from your mother.

06:10So the method of Krishna is just the method of wait, the method of patience.

06:25He does nothing. He just waits. He waits for the ripe one and when the ripe one is there,

06:32His ripeness itself becomes the grace of Krishna.

06:36So even in the matter of grace, Krishna actually is doing nothing at all.

06:41Krishna is a witness. A timeless witness. If you are ripe, grace is yours. What have I done? I have done nothing.

06:51It's like a law. If you are ripe, grace is yours.

06:54And in this law, Krishna's personal intervention is not even needed.

07:02So grace is nothing. Grace is your own ripeness. Your own ripeness is the grace of Krishna.

07:09You are ripe and what is your ripeness? It is not an event in prakriti. It is a choice.

07:16Your ripeness is not like the ripeness of a mango.

07:19Something which duly and necessarily happens in time. No. Your own ripeness is a choice.

07:26You make that choice, grace is yours. If you don't make that choice, nobody can help you.

07:31Krishna would just stand watching you.

07:33All these emotions, I mean, if I put myself in Arjun's shoe, I continue to exhibit these emotions myself.

07:42But I find myself in a very difficult situation to be open about all these emotions in front of the real teacher.

07:52Because you have self-respect to different people.

07:55We addressed this point. We said, Arjun can express himself so openly only because he is no more competitive.

08:02You know, what is it we do? We compete even with Krishna.

08:09We do not want to be left too far behind Krishna. We do not want to be shown up as pygmy,

08:16We say, if we expose ourselves to Krishna, Krishna would know our secrets and laugh at us and that would hurt our self-respect.

08:25In that way, you are treating Krishna as somewhat of an adversary.

08:31And how can he offer you his grace if in your heart, you are not ready to accept it?

08:38You are treating Krishna as somewhat of an adversary.

08:42And how can he offer you his grace if in your eyes, he is an adversary?

08:48On one hand, we call him a God. On the other hand, we treat him like an enemy.

08:54You compete only with enemies, right?

08:58If you find it difficult to open up in front of someone, for sure you are competing with that person.

09:05For sure you are afraid of that person.

09:09For sure, you do not want to be shown up as insufficient or small in front of that person.

09:17That is the only reason why one does not want to expose himself.

09:21If I expose myself, he will know all my secrets.

09:24If he will know my secrets, he will know how small I am.

09:27If he will know how small I am, I will feel bad. Why?

09:31Because I want to be seen as big.

09:33Seen as big.

09:36I want to be seen as big by him.

09:39Why do you want to be seen as big by Krishna?

09:43If you know who you are, of course, Krishna knows who you are.

09:51Nude, dude, nude.

09:55That's the way.

09:57Right, got it.

10:01Drop it.

10:10Sir, if I drop all the egos and emotions now,

10:18would that mean that I will be

10:22would that mean that I will be able to do my prescribed duties?

10:31No, you don't have to drop something. All that is

10:35moralistic nonsense.

10:38You have to realise that all those things exist and you have to see that very sharply.

10:45As sharply as you can see my physical shape on your screen.

10:52Not just a vague feeling.

10:55A very clear realisation of the process and contours of desire, existence, fear, greed.

11:03A very, very sharp seeing.

11:07That's what you need.

11:08Without that seeing, even if you try to drop something,

11:15it doesn't help.

11:19Don't have it in your mind.

11:22That there is something to be dropped.

11:24You don't need to drop anything.

11:26You need to realise, realise.

11:29And after that, certain things for your own good happen on their own.

11:36Realise your job is not to do this, do that, pick that up, drop that.

11:42All that is childish. No.

11:52Right, sir.

11:59Thank you, Acharya.

12:01Welcome.

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