Talks on the Gita -Vinoba 88

Chapter 9 THE SOVEREIGN SCIENCE OF SERVICE TO HUMANITY: YOGA OF SURRENDER 43. No Problem Of Eligibility 9. In the life of Lord Krishna, His childhood is particularly charming. Balkrishna (the child Krishna) has always been the object of special adoration and worship. He would go along with the cowherds to graze cattle; He would eat and laugh and play with them. When they set out to worship Indra he asked them, “Has anybody seen Indra? What do we owe to him? On the other hand, this Govardhan hill is here before our eyes. Cows graze on its slopes. Streams flow from it. It is better to worship it.” Such things he taught them. To his cowherd companions, to their womenfolk, to the cows and the calves whose company he enjoyed, to them all he opened the door of spiritual liberation. Lord Krishna has thus shown through His own life an easy way to moksha. He moved with cows in His childhood and with horses when He grew up. On hearing the music of His flute, cows would go into raptures. The horses would get thrilled as he stroked their backs. Those cows and horses, belonging to the so-called lower species, would as if become one with Him and attain spiritual liberation. Lord Krishna has thus shown that such liberation is not a prerogative of human beings only; even the birds and the beasts can attain it. His life-story is a testimony to this fact. 10. Vyasa too had the same experience. In fact, there is an identity between Vyasa and Krishna. The quintessential message of the lives of both is the same. Moksha depends neither on scholarship nor on performance of rites and rituals. Plain, simple devotion is sufficient. We know of simple devout women surpassing learned egotists in spiritual progress. If there is pure heart, innocence and faith, moksha is not difficult to attain. In the Mahabharata, there is a Chapter narrating a conversation between King Janaka and Sulabha, an ordinary woman. Vyasa has depicted an incident wherein King Janaka goes for Self-knowledge to Sulabha. You may go on discussing whether women have the right to study Vedas or not, but here we find Sulabha, an ordinary woman, imparting the knowledge of the Brahman to Janaka, the great Emperor and scholar. Janaka was a learned man, but he was away from moksha. For that, Vyasa had made him fall at the feet of Sulabha. The story of Tuladhar, the grocer, gives the same message. Jajali, a Brahmin goes to him for Self knowledge. Tuladhar tells him, “All my knowledge consists in holding the scales perfectly even.” There is also a story of a hunter who used to kill animals and sell their flesh. That was his way of serving the society. An egoistic ascetic was told by his guru (teacher) to go to that hunter for Self-knowledge. The ascetic wondered how a hunter could teach him. When he went to the hunter, the latter was busy cutting up meat and cleaning the pieces to put them up for sale. He told the ascetic, “I am doing my best to infuse my work with dharma to the extent possible. I pour my soul into this work to the best of my capacity, and also serve my parents.” In the form of that hunter, Vyasa has put before us an ideal.