Why Isn't the Gita for Everyone?
Questioner: Sir, my question is, 'Can Gita be taught to someone who’s not willing to learn it? Can Gita be taught to someone who is functioning at the lowest level of their consciousness?' The people who are like majorly responsible for driving the climate catastrophe, the people who indulge in heinous crimes as it happened few days back in Kolkata; are these people even capable of receiving Gita?
As you saw in Mahabharat, Shri Krishna didn’t choose Duryodhana, and he chooses Arjuna for Gita. It’s not because Duryodhana was illiterate. He was being praised by Guru Drona in one instance, I remember. He was well-versed with the knowledge of all the Vedas and other ancient knowledge. But his problem was his inability to act on that knowledge. If Shri Krishna didn’t choose Duryodhana, then why should we try to disperse Gita to someone who’s not neither willing nor able to act upon such a knowledge and if that’s the case what can be done about it?
Acharya Prashant: It depends on the pain you are willing to take. Gita can be brought to anybody and Arjunas are not always available. Sometimes Duryodhanas have to be turned into Arjunas. It’s just that, it’s relatively easier with an Arjuna. Even though, with even Arjuna, it’s a tricky affair. But what to do when even Arjunas are not present to receive the Gita? As long as somebody has anything, anything that resembles consciousness, as long as somebody has even the faintest remnant of consciousness left, Gita can be brought to that person but it will be tough, difficult. And it will be dangerous also because the teacher will need to stoop to the level of the receiver. The patient can be saved, but the operation will be both delicate and dangerous.
So, it’s not as if there is a very clear dividing line between those who are qualified to receive the Gita and those who are not. No such dividing line exists. Though, obviously there are grades and one can see that there is a progression in terms of the capability and the willingness and the qualification, but at no point is it possible to say that now the qualification is zero.
So, it depends on how much is the teacher ready to bear? If the teacher chooses an incompetent disciple, that simply means hell for the teacher. But then we know of teachers who have deliberately chosen incompetent disciples because incompetence was the order of the day, it was not possible to get more realized, more illuminated, more prepared students. So, they said, “Fine. I have to give and I have to make a difference, I have to start, I can’t wait indefinitely. So, whosoever is available, I’ll start off with them.” That has happened.
There is a beautiful Sufi story. So, there was this, the Sufi master and I’ll want you to figure out the name. It’s a very popular story. So, he waited, it is said, all his life. Right? There are exaggerations always. When facts turn into legends, you can always expect some kinds of exaggerations or distortions, but still the story stands instructive. We’ll learn from that.
So, this fellow, he waited all his life. He said, “I’ll speak only when I get the perfect disciple. I’ll not speak to the undeserving ones.” So, he waited all his life and nobody who was perfectly deserving came his way. He probably would have tried to make it known in all directions that he’s a capable teacher and he’s waiting for the right disciple. But yet probably nobody came or if people did come, they were not found to be deserving enough. So now, he is about to complete his journey and is at his deathbed and then suddenly he realizes something and he laughs. And these are the last few breaths that he has. So, he gets up from the bed and he comes out and starts yelling on the street. He says, “Even if you are a thief, a drunkard, even if you have broken your woes thousand times, come as you are.”
Those are beautiful words. They stuck and they have stayed with me. ‘Come as you are.’ And he very specifically mentioned the kind of people who were permitted to come. He said, “You might be a robber, you might be a liar, you might be somebody good for absolutely nothing but still come as you are, come as you are.”
So, if somebody can search for that and give it to me. It’s a beautiful part.
Come as you are. Even if you have broken your woes a thousand times, come as you are.
So, when you make such a public announcement and throw open the party, invitation goes out to everyone. And those were the kind of people who came to him. Those who had nothing else to do they came. Because those who have some capability, some qualification, are usually found involved somewhere. So, some unemployed fellow who had nowhere else to go, he came running, he said, “Fine I have come.”
Some gambler who had just lost some money and was sitting crying on his hunches, he got up and came, he said, “I have come.” And so, this kind of motley lot gathered around him and the master is about to pass away. And he says, “Fine, now I have these five-ten people” and he said what he had to say. He delivered his sermon to these people. And the legend says that those people benefited, those people benefited.
So, you cannot create an artificial world for yourself. This world is all that you have. Right? And if you have something to share, you’ll have to share it with the inhabitants of this world. You cannot keep waiting for a fictitious Arjuna of your choice. Maybe the Arjuna will never come.
With your capacity, with your power you do the maximum you can. It might be, in fact, helpful to ask, is it only Arjunas who are missing or is it even the teachers, the Krishnas who are also missing? If you do not get an Arjuna as the receiver, probably even Shri Krishna as the giver is missing. And if you can be Shri Krishna, the giver, then whosoever you give it to is your Arjuna. That’s what you have to believe. That’s what you have and that’s what you have to proceed with. You can’t keep waiting. Remember, come as you are.
You couldn’t find that excerpt? None of you? Just give me the quote.
Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving. It doesn’t matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come even if you have broken your woes a thousand times. Come, yet again, come, come.
('Lover of leaving'. Some people just love to leave. He’s saying, “Even if you are someone who loves to leave, goes away, comes back, does all these things, you still come.”)
So, this is the quote. There’s also a story associated with it or maybe the story is independent of this. But you can figure out the story. The theme is similar to what I have mentioned. Yeah.
Nobody is deserving enough. Did Arjuna really deserve the Gita? No, he did not. That’s the nature of grace. Nobody deserves grace. Grace by definition is, that which you get without deserving it. Nobody really deserves the Gita. Whenever the Gita really comes to you, you must bow your head down to grace.
You can never be so big that you can claim to deserve the Gita. And if you deserve the Gita then you don’t need the Gita. You’re already deserving enough. These things will always come to you a little beyond your weight and size, much beyond your weight and size. So, you’ll have nothing but gratitude to offer. You cannot buy the Gita, you cannot deserve the Gita, you can only be grateful if it comes to you. You can only be grateful to the Gita if it comes to you.
