Hey reader,

In 2014, Kamryn Renfro, a 9-year-old Colorado girl decided to shave off her own hair as a sign of support for her 11-year-old friend, Delaney Clements, who lost her hair during chemotherapy she received while fighting a rare form of childhood cancer. The two girls go to different schools, but Kamryn didn’t want Delaney to feel alone, so she got permission to shave her head. The decision touched Delaney’s mother, Wendy Campbell.

What is the significance of this story? Commitment! Dedication! Devotion!

If you are new here, just to remind you that this is the last blog of Mahabharat series. It would be great if you first read the previous two blogs and then read this so that you get the complete understanding of what I have tried to deliver in this series. For your convenience, here are the links Blog 1: Understanding Human and Blog 2: Understanding Actions.

Here is the conversation continued from previous blog between Lord Krishna and Arjun.

Lord Krishna: When you will get to know yourself, you will find yourself connected to me, connected to almighty, but to get into that position, your complete dedication towards me is necessary.

Arjun: What is dedication, Lord?

Lord Krishna: Dedication is that state of mind, where the person sacrifices all its resolutions and doesn’t even take any decision or any vows. He works according to whatever is given to him. In reality, dedication is to dedicate or commit yourself, your mind, your wisdom, your knowledge, your desires, your faith, your feelings, and your everything towards someone. This dedication is also known as Devotion (Bhakti).

Arjun: Dedication of life partners towards one another, the dedication of a soldier towards his commander, and dedication of a student towards his Guru; Are all these dedication same? Do they get to meet the almighty?

Lord Krishna: No Arjun, person transforms according to whom he is dedicated to. He doesn’t doubt or questions to the one he is dedicated to. If someone is dedicated or committed towards evil, his actions will also get corrupted. Hence, commitment towards good is important, only that will make the person better.
With a chain of iron, prisoners are tied in prison. With a chain of brass, lamps are tied in temples. But a chain of gold, a necklace, is worn as a piece of jewellery.
Devotion to partner, devotion to friends, devotion to Gurus, etc are few of various kinds of devotion, but the best among them is the devotion to Almighty.

Arjun: But how is the Devotion to Almighty, related to Sanghya Yog (The science of knowing yourself as a soul over knowing yourself as a body) and Karma Yog (to work selflessly, without any desire of some specific outcome or result)?

Lord Krishna: With Sanghya Yog, a person gets to know itself as a part of Almighty. With Karma Yog, he gets free from all the bonds of life. And with Bhakti Yog, he gets to know the actual form of the Almighty. He gets free from life and death. Just like a droplet mixes in the ocean and becomes the ocean itself, similarly, a soul, with the help of Bhakti Yog, meets and becomes a part of the Almighty.

Arjun: That means, this body is of no importance?

Lord Krishna: It does have the importance, Arjun. The body is the only medium, through which one can reach to that Almighty. Between death and new life, the growth of a soul is stopped. A soul gets a new birth on the basis of all the experiences, knowledge, thoughts and practices, it has attained in the previous life. A souls growth or downfall is possible only in this body.

Arjun: But Lord, everyone who is present here on this battlefield, won’t I destroy the possibility of their deliverance?     

Lord Krishna: Your enemies have destroyed all the dignity of righteousness, Arjun. Lawlessness has become their behaviour. Their deliverance is impossible now. Offenders can only be given limited chances to save themselves. If they are allowed to do crimes, then they will be falling even harder. Stopping them from doing crime is the only mercy. Remember, these souls won’t die. They will reborn in new bodies, and the chances of their growth will be more in those new bodies. If you will fight this battle, with this thought, then this war is correct.
A person’s body is his wealth as well as dignity. A person who walks in the path of righteousness, he purifies his body, and uses it as a medium to know and reach the Almighty. This is also called Kshetra-Kshetragya (Field-Field expert)

Arjun:  I didn’t get the meaning of this, Almighty.

Lord Krishna: A person who understands that his body is a piece of soil (i.e. Kshetra or Field), and he himself, who resides in it, understands it, i.e. (Kshetragya or Field expert), then using that body, he can practice and work towards its growth. The soul staying in the body regulates the three qualities (tamas, sattva and rajas). It tries to reduce tamas (selfishness), and figures out ways to increase sattva (selflessness) qualities, and with Devotion, meets the Almighty.

Arjun: Lord, how can someone perform devotion? Isn’t the dedication or commitment a devotion?

Lord Krishna: No Arjun, dedication (or commitment) is the first step to devotion. In reality, devotion is not like any task or action. It is just a state of mind. It is necessary that a person through activities Jap-Tap (Chanting-Tenacity), Havan (Offering prayers to God in front of the fire), etc., purifies itself and keeps dedicated to Almighty. It is necessary that he dedicates and commits all his actions, their result and his every breath towards the Almighty.

Arjun: If devotion is just a state of mind, then why are all these religious activities like chanting, hawans, etc., required?

Lord Krishna: Just like a clean and clear utensil today, get dirty tomorrow. Similarly, a person’s mind many times disinclines from the Almighty. Hence, it is necessary that through these religious activities, he keeps reminding himself that his life is dedicated to the Almighty. The summary of Bhakti Yog is only this Arjun, that a person keeps dedicating itself towards God, keep devoted to God and takes care of the wealth of its Sattva (Good) Qualities.

Arjun: What is called as the wealth of Sattva Qualities (Good Qualities)?

Lord Krishna: To create violence without any reason and for own selfishness, is Adharm (lawlessness). Non-violence is the utmost righteousness, and along with that truth, to not get angry, sacrifice, peace in mind, to not condemn others, kindness, not to get attracted by happiness, not doing anything without any reason, forgiveness, purity of the body, to not protest righteousness and not getting the ego, all these qualities are called as the divine qualities and with them, a person gets devoted to the almighty. 

In 2015, when I went through a Lung Cancer test, I had two people waiting outside the mini OT, my parents. When I returned and in next few days, there were few people who stayed in touch and kept asking about the well being. (Thank you, again!) That moment, I realised what does commitment means.

We meet a lot of people, become friends, become colleagues, become partners. But how many of them are committed towards each other? How many stand with you? With how many people, you stand? We are in one of those rare pandemic. How many are there who talk to you? Everyone says that social distancing is necessary, but social disconnection is not. How many do really stand with it?

Recently, I saw a post on Instagram where one of my friend shared a picture, which said something like: “How many of your friends really have reached out to you in this pandemic, how many of them care?” and then right below it, it said, “Stop being so self centered always. Nobody is bound to stand with you all the time. You need to take care of yourself, and not everytime someone can keep a check on you”, etc. People can have different views and opinions around it. Both can be correct. However, in my opinion, there is a difference in calling someone a friend and calling someone an acquaintance. Don’t call your acquaintances, your friends, and let them know it, and also, don’t treat your friends as an acquaintance.

In previous blog, I shared my learnings, which I am reiterating now with some addition:

1. I don’t do anything on my own, it’s all meant to be like this. I’m just a carrier of getting the work done. So, in a way, doing something good or bad of someone isn’t in my hands. I can try to help someone, but if my help will be useful, it may or may not be true.

2. I should fulfil my duties, being a son, being a brother, being a friend, being an employee, and being a citizen as well as human. I must fulfil and discharge all my duties without expecting the outcome or desiring an outcome in or against my favour. Let the result be whatever it is, for example,
– keep helping my loved ones without expecting that they will help me too someday.
– keep staying with my friends without expecting that they will stay forever.
– keep doing my tasks at the office, one after another, without thinking about any praise out of it. If the tasks are done properly within time, they will be eventually praised.
– keep continuing to work, irrespective of the previous outcomes and results. Start fresh if something messed up in previous assignment, or just improve and continue the good work from the previous success.

3. Each of us carry a soul. Each soul has some part of that Infinite power called Krishna, Allah, Jesus, Budhha, and Alimighty. So, in the end, we all are connected with that bond, that connection of Infinite Power. If we really want to meet and greet the almighty, its inside our own self and others too. If we treat ourselves as well as others nicely, give respect, make them happy, help them in tough times, enjoy their happy moments, fight lesser, we would be able to greet the God, himself. 

So, here is the end of Mahabharat or I should better call it Bhagwad Geeta series. I hope you may have got some knowledge about it and would have learnt something that will help you in your life. I won’t ask this time to share your views or comments as I know, you won’t. ;)

Stay safe, care for your loved ones (it only takes few minutes), will meet you all in the next one.

– Navneet