Talks on the Gita -Vinoba 138

Chapter 12 SAGUNA AND NIRGUNA BHAKTI 64. Complementarity Between Saguna And Nirguna: Examples From Krishna’s Life 24. Tenderness and warmth of devotion must be there. That is why the Lord told Arjuna, ‘मय्यासक्तमनाः पार्थ ’—‘O Arujna! Have attachment to Me' and repeated the advice again and again. The Gita otherwise detests the word ‘attachment’ and repeatedly exhorts us to work without attachment, love or hate, and expectations. Non-attachment is its constant refrain. Still it asks Arjuna to have attachment to the Lord. But, then, attachment to the Lord is a lofty ideal; it has nothing in common with attachment to worldly things. Saguna and nirguna are closely intertwined with each other. Saguna cannot altogether dispense with nirguna’s support and nirguna does need saguna’s warmth. Work is certainly worship, but it needs warmth of feelings. The Lord says, ‘मामनुस्मर युध्य च।’ (‘Remember Me and fight.’) Work is worship in itself, but devotion has to be there in the heart. The mechanical action of offering flowers to the Lord’s idol is no worship; that action has to be saturated with devotion. Offering flowers to the Lord’s idol is one form of worship; doing good work is another way. In both of them there must be warmth of devotion. If this warmth is not there, offering flowers to an idol will be no different from offering them to a stone. It is the inner feelings that matter. It is devotion which makes the difference. Saguna and nirguna, work and love, jnana and bhakti—all these are completely identical. They all lead to the same ultimate experience. 25. Look at Uddhava and Arjuna. I am taking a jump from the Ramayana to the Mahabharata; but I do have a right to do so, as there is complete identity between Rama and Krishna. Uddhava and Arjuna are like Bharat and Lakshman respectively. Uddhava always used to be with Krishna, busy in serving him. He could not bear even a moment’s separation from him. Without Krishna, life was dull and insipid for him. Arjuna too was Krishna’s dear friend, but he used to live at Hastinapur, away from him, doing his work. Such was their relationship. 26. When it was time for Krishna to leave His body, he told Uddhava, “Uddhava, I am going now.” Uddhava pleaded, “Why don’t you take me along? Let us go together.” But Krishna said, “No, I am not for that. When the sun sets, it endows fire with its essence—heat and light; likewise I am leaving my essence, my light with you.” He then revealed Self-knowledge to Uddhava and sent him on a journey. During the journey, Uddhava came to know from sage Maitreya that Krishna had bid farewell to this world. But the news made absolutely no impact on Uddhava’s mind. His case was not like ‘मरका गुरु, रडका चेला, दोहींचा बोध वायां गेला- ’ (‘When the master died, the pupil cried. The teaching and the learning were both wasted.’) He did not feel that there was any separation. All his life he had performed saguna worship. He had always lived in the company of Krishna. Now he had begun to experience the joy of nirguna. He had to reach finally the destination of nirguna. Saguna may come first, but it must be followed by nirguna; otherwise there is no perfection, no fulfillment. 27. Arjuna’s case was just the opposite. Krishna had ask ed him to protect all the womenfolk after his departure from this world. Arjuna came to Dwarka, took them along and proceeded to Delhi. On the way, dacoits robbed them near Hissar in Punjab. Arjuna was known as a man among men, as one of the greatest warriors of his time. He was known as ‘jaya’ (the victorious) as he knew no defeat. Once he had even challenged and humbled Lord Shiva. But such a fighter could not face a bunch of dacoits and had to flee for his life! Krishna’s departure from this world had affected him so deeply that he had as if lost all his vitality and strength; he had become a shadow of his former self. Thus Arjuna, the nirguna devotee, was overwhelmed with separation from Krishna in the end. His nirguna ultimately gave way. All his activity came to a standstill. His nirguna had the experience of the value of saguna in the end. Thus saguna has to go into nirguna and nirguna has to go into saguna. They complement each other.