Posted on: 07 Feb 2005
Arjuna is called as Nara. Nara means a human being. He perfectly represented the state of a human being. The human being has always a mixed feeling. He is a mixture of faith and doubt. Due to faith, the Pandavas won the war. But due to the doubt, they were really defeated because all their sons, who were the heirs of kingdom, were killed. Nara was associated with Narayana for thousands of years. But still he slipped and hence was was reborn as a hunter in the next birth.
Sometimes Arjuna believed Krishna and sometimes he doubted. One day Krishna asked Arjuna to look up to the top of a tree, to see if there was a bird. Arjuna said yes. Then Krishna asked him whether it was a flower. Arjuna again said yes. Then Krishna asked Arjuna the reason for his blind agreement. Then Arjuna told Krishna that whatever He said, would happen. This is a scene of full belief. But you see another scene. Arjuna was prepared to fight with Krishna to protect Gaya. This is the scene of full doubt. Had he believed Krishna fully, what is the necessity for him to go to the Himalayas to get the Pashupatastram [a divine weapon of Lord Shiva]? Just like the present-day human beings, he was fond of the energetic body of God [Lord Shiva]. Due to this, he did long penance and had the vision of Shiva, the energetic body. He worshipped Shiva Lingam in the Himalayas, which is a model representing the formless God. The Shiva Lingam indicates the wave of energy. It represents God in the form of the all pervading energy. He kept a small statue of Hanuman on the chariot and the picture of Hanuman on the flag. This shows that human beings are fond of statues and pictures. Arjuna also saw Shiva in the energetic body walking before the chariot. But, Krishna was sitting in the front of chariot as the driver. But, Arjuna did not identify Krishna as God. The energetic body in front, the statue above and the human incarnation in the front are available.
Even Ravana worshipped the Shiva Lingam and saw Shiva in the energetic body after doing penance. But, he disbelieved Rama, who was the human incarnation. Hanuman and the Gopikas had full faith on the human incarnation (Rama and Krishna respectively) without any doubt. Hanuman just slipped in one incident. He fought with Rama for the sake of his mother. Dharmaraja also slipped just once. He refused to tell a lie even though Krishna ordered him to do so. Thus both Hanuman and Dharmaraja had ninety nine percent faith. Ravana stands for complete disbelief and Arjuna was in between them. Hanuman and the Gopikas are like the candidates for IAS examination [Indian Administrative Services examination]. Rama gave a very tough question paper. Hanuman protected Rama in several incidents. Rama also behaved highly selfishly by showing a lot of interest on His wife. He told Ravana, to return His wife and live happily. If Ravana had done this, Rama would not have harmed Ravana in spite of Ravana’s atrocities. It means Rama was interested only in His wife and not in the welfare of society. Similarly, the Gopikas were ripened sages and were like IAS candidates. Krishna acted as a thief and mischeivous boy in all respects. Yet neither Hanuman nor the Gopikas got any doubt.
If one understands these three epics, [Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhagavatam] salvation can be achieved. They are not simple stories. Every story has a hidden ocean of spiritual knowledge. Every Purana has such treasures of spiritual knowledge. Hanuman and the Gopikas never worshipped formless God, God in an energetic body or God as statues and pictures. They just worshipped the human incarnation with rock-solid faith. But Arjuna worshipped God in other ways.
Ramayana and Bhagavatam speak about the achievement of God. Mahabharatam speaks of the problems in such a spiritual effort. There is no difficulty in understanding or accepting formless God, God in an energetic body or God as a statue or picture. But the human incarnation of God shows birth, death, hunger, illness etc. in the gross body. This creates doubt. The doubt becomes stronger when the human incarnation exhibits bad qualities (Rajas and Tamas) through the subtle body. Actually God only enters energetic bodies or the living physical bodies. In the upper world, God is seen in an energetic body. But such energetic forms are meant only for the souls who are in energetic bodies in the upper world. When the soul leaves the gross body in this world, it immediately takes up an energetic body to go to the upper world. In this world, God enters animals etc. also, but such incarnations are not for preaching. They are only for destroying the demons. Mainly, He enters the human body for the sake of human beings. Regarding statues and pictures, they are only representative models. You can worship them assuming that they are God. But actually they are not God. Similarly you can love your son assuming that he is the child-Krishna. But you should remember that it is only representative worship and that your son is not actually Krishna. Thus Brahma Vidya is most difficult due to the difficulty in understanding and accepting the human incarnation. Unless egoism and jealousy are completely destroyed, none can accept the human incarnation. That is why people see Brahma Vidya as most difficult subject.