Honesty of Arjuna in Mahabharata

This introduction to Arjuna's condition helps us greatly in understanding the rest of the Gita. We should be grateful for this. It also helps us in another way. It reveals Arjuna's straight forwardness and honesty. The word 'Arjuna', in fact, means one who is honest and straightforward in nature. He opened out his heart before Krishna, laid bare before Him all that he felt and thought. He hid nothing from Him and ultimately surrendered to Him totally. In fact he was already His devotee. When he made Krishna his charioteer and entrusted to Him the reins of his horses, he had got ready to give into His hands the reins of his mind also. Let us do likewise. Let us not think that, unlike Arjuna, we do not have Krishna to guide us. Let us not get caught in the fallacy that Krishna was an historical person. Everybody has Krishna residing in his heart as the indwelling Self. He is nearer to us than the nearest. Let us bare our heart with all its impurities and weaknesses, before Him and say. "Lord I take refuge in you. You are my sole guide, my master. Show me the right path and I shall follow it." If we do so, Arjuna's charioteer will be our charioteer too. We shall hear the Gita from His own lips and He will lead us to victory.

Upasana

Upasana means coming closer to the object of adoration. When wood and fire come closer to each other, wood becomes fire. Likewise, I surrendered myself to God (my guru) and told Him "whatever power, wealth, intellect, etc I possess, are yours; please order me what I have to de."This is called Upasana. It is essentially characterized by the surrender of one's thoughts, emotions, faith and resources. My Upasana comprised solely of surrender and faith. I have merged myself with my God like a rivulet merging itself with the river and in the process have achieved in status, power and form of the river (my guru). Why don't you too mix with your God and say 'I surrender to thee, please use me.' My Upasana overshadowed my self like this. I have assimilated the devotion of Upasana in my life like the loyalty and fidelity of a devoted wife towards her husband. You too will have to dedicate yourself to your God to achieve something worthwhile in life.

Gurudev

Faith

Story told by a man which is most frightening yet thought-provoking experiences of his life. He had been on a long flight. The first warning of the approaching problems came when the sign pm the airplane flashed on: "Fasten your seat belts". Then after a while a calm voice said. "we shall not be serving the beverages at this time as we are expecting a little troublous. Please be sure your seat belt is fastened".

As he looked around the aircraft, it became obvious that many of the passengers were becoming apprehensive. Later, the voice of the announcer said, "We are so sorry that we are unable to serve the meal at this time. The turbulence is still ahead of us."

And then the storm broke. The ominous cracks of thunder could be heard even above the roar of the engines. Lightening lit up the darkening skies, and within moments that great plane was like a cork tossed around on a celestial ocean. One moment the airplane was lifted on terrific currents of air; the next, it dropped as if it were about to crash.

The man confessed that he shared the discomfort and fear of those around him. He said, "As I looked around the plane, I could see that nearly all the passengers were upset and alarmed. Some were praying.

And then, I suddenly saw a girl to whom the storm meant nothing. She had tucked her feet beneath her as she sat on her seat and was reading a book.

Everything within her small world was calm and orderly. Sometimes she closed her eyes, then she would read again; then she would straighten her legs, but worry and fear were not in her world.

The man could hardly believe his eyes. It was not surprising therefore, that when the plane finally reached its destination and all the passengers were hurrying to disembark, he lingered to speak to the girl whom he had watched for such a long time.

Having commented about the storm and behavior of the plane, he asked why she had not been afraid. The sweet child replied, "sir, my dad is the pilot, and he is taking me home."