Upasana

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

The Dawn of the Era of Divine Decent on Earth

 The past three centuries have been witness to miraculous discoveries in material sciences and application thereof in improving the physical quality of life. Unfortunately, because of their improper applications, many of these scientific achievements have proved to be disastrous for humanity, consequently, modern man finds himself living in much more distressful and stress-phone environment than his less affluent ancestors. Universal problems like environmental pollution, increasing radioactivity, global warming, nuclear and chemical proliferation of armaments are creating an environmental in which the very existence of human race is at stake. Who would then appreciate science and technology which leads to the melting of polar Iceland's, disastrous upheavals in the oceans of the world, return of the ice-ages and destruction of this beautiful planet by the ultraviolet radiations penetrating through the holes in the ozone layers protecting the earth? It is too enormous a price to pay for the life debasing comforts and capabilities provided by the advancement in science and technology?

Is not it the devilish misuse of scientific advancement and scores of local and regional conflicts which has resulted in two world wars causing enormous loss of life and resources this very century? Man is today mercilessly exploiting the mineral resources of the earth. He is preparing for star-wars which would obliterate all life on the earth.

Materialistic philosophy of modern society has totally sidetracked the concepts of soul, god, divine-justice (Karma Phal) and basic ethical and moral values which ennoble human life. Instant materialistic achievement and gratification have become the sole pursuits of modern man, for which he is prepared to go to any extent of unrestrained deceitfulness and cruelty.

In the modern society, gross sensuality and unrestrained sexuality are becoming the principal means of entertainment. It has destroyed the bridge of healthy relationship between man and woman. One of the inevitable consequences of free sex is explosion in population which would make it very difficult to provide food, housing, education, medical facilities and other basic amenities for the future generation and perhaps leave no space for vehicles on the roads. This is happening in spite of the family welfare programs of governments. With the fast growing population, there does not appear any possibility of success in the welfare or development scheme of the governments. The fast depleting resources would soon make human beings behave like hungry wolves, tearing each other apart for petty gains.

On the contrary, everywhere today there is predominance of corrupt practices. Very few are living a life of peace and contentment. A corrupt practice is nothing but the product of a corrupt ideology and perverted sense of values of life. The major problems facing humankind today are the outcome of lack of noble ideals, loss of faith in ultimate triumph of righteousness, prevalence of perverted values and dominance of evil urges and thoughts; the roots of all human misery life in the corruption of ideologies (misplaced values), which have created problems in all spheres of life. Until this root cause is removed, it is futile to hope for universal peace, prosperity and happiness.