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God's accessibility

CHENNAI : Spiritual retreats are intended to distance oneself from all worldly engagements and re-orient oneself to the purpose of human existence in the world — liberation from rebirths. Primarily spiritual evolution involves unlearning what we have gathered in worldly life. This amounts to getting over certain notions we have formed which distances one from God.

One good example is to learn to look upon the Lord as a friend. Initially one is bound to have a mental block about accepting Him as someone accessible and so it involves breaking down barriers, which make Him out to be an unapproachable Almighty.

In his discourse, Swami Mitrananda said Lord Krishna taught the truth to Arjuna because He considered him as His friend. The Lord says in the Bhagavad Gita: "I taught this immortal Yoga to Vivasvan (sun-god); Vivasvan conveyed it to Manu (his son); and Manu imparted it to (his son) Ikshvaku... The same ancient Yoga has this day been imparted to you by Me, because you are My devotee and friend; and also because this is a supreme secret."

The Lord's intention here is to reveal that He makes Himself accessible to His devotees so that they will not have any fear or inhibition. Arjuna immediately developed the courage to question Krishna. Arjuna's dilemma was that Krishna was his dear friend, elder to him by 11 years; then, how could He have taught this Yoga ages ago to Vivasvan of great antiquity?

This question is a sample of paradoxes that a spiritual seeker confronts during his quest. The speech of the mystics (exposition of spiritual knowledge) is always difficult to understand because once a person is enlightened there is no identification with the body for he relates totally with the Self (Atman), which is eternal. Krishna clarified that though both He and Arjuna had passed through several births, He remembered them all while Arjuna did not.

Lest he should mistakenly think that both their births were similar, the Lord immediately clarified: "Though birthless and deathless, and the Lord of all beings, I manifest Myself through My own divine potency (Yogamaya), keeping My nature under control." Human birth is the result of Karma and man is dependent on so many because of ignorance while God's descents are out of His free will.

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