Krishna, The Widow And Her Cow

Sometimes when we are in utter difficulty, the Grace of God acts in a very peculiar way. We feel that God becomes more cruel when we are in difficulties and sufferings. Let me illustrate this to you with a story. Sri Krishna and Arjuna once were guests of a widow. The widow had no children, nobody. She was all alone. But she had a cow. This cow was her only means of support. She used to sell milk, and by selling milk she used to maintain her life. She was a great devotee of Sri Krishna. When Sri Krishna and Arjuna went to visit her in disguise, incognito, she was so happy to see these two divine guests. She fed them with whatever she had in her house. Sri Krishna was extremely pleased with her surrendering attitude and her devotion. On their way back, Arjuna said to Krishna, “You were so pleased with her. Why didn’t you grant her a boon? Why didn’t you tell her that she would be prosperous soon, now that you are pleased with her? ”

“I have already granted her the boon that her cow must die tomorrow.”

“What? Her only means of support? She has only the cow, and nothing else. Without the cow how can she live on earth?”

Krishna answered, “You don’t understand me. She always thinks of the cow. The cow has to be fed, has to milked, has to be bathed and so forth. I want her only to think of me, and when the cow is gone, she will think of me all the time, twenty-four hours. Then soon the time will be right for me to take her away from this world, and after a few years I will give her a better and more fulfilling incarnation. When she has nobody on earth, not even the cow, she will try and spend all her time, day and night, in devoting herself to me. Otherwise, this way she will linger on earth and constantly think of the cow and not of me.” So Sri Krishna’s ways are inscrutable.

Arjuna is exceedingly happy and extremely fortunate that he has had the most rare Vision of the cosmic Form. How is it possible for him to be burdened with further philosophical and spiritual questions? The reason is that his vision of the cosmic Form does not imply that he has reached the Goal of goals. The vision has to be transformed into the living, constant Reality in Arjuna’s life, and then he has to live in the Reality itself. The experience of the vision is good. The realisation of the vision is better. The embodiment of the vision is best. Better than even the best is the revelation of the vision. Finally it is the manifestation of the vision which is divinely and supremely unparalleled.

The path of meditation and the path of devotion are now being compared. Arjuna wishes to learn from Sri Krishna about the two paths, the path of meditation that lead to the Unmanifest and the path of devotion that leads to the personal God—which is the better of the two? Krishna’s answer is that each path, devotedly and faithfully followed, leads to the Goal. But the path of meditation is more difficult and more arduous. The physical body binds us to the material world. Hence it is difficult for us to meditate on the Unthinkable, the Unimaginable and the Transcendental. But if we approach the Lord who assumes the human form and who plays His divine game in the field of His manifestation, our success will undoubtedly be easier, quicker and more convincing, to a degree which our physical minds would not believe possible.

A genuine seeker must dissolve all that he has—ignorance and knowledge—and all that he is—ego and aspiration—in God. Indeed it is most difficult but not impossible. Lo! He is given the golden opportunity to accept the easiest and the most effective path. In this unique path, he has just to offer the fruits of action to the Lord and he has to dedicate himself—body, mind, heart and soul— to the Lord.

The path of meditation and the path of devotion will lead ultimately to the same Goal. Now what makes the aspirant feel that the path of meditation is extremely difficult to follow? The answer is very simple. The aspirant cannot focus his mind’s attention on the Unmanifest Beyond; whereas if the aspirant is devoted to the Lord in His manifested creation, and if he wants to see and worship his Beloved in each being, his path becomes undoubtedly easier. Love the form first; then from the form, go to Formless beyond. The disciple at the beginning must approach the divinely physical aspect of the Guru and then he has to go beyond, far beyond the Guru’s physical form and physical substance in order to commune with and stay in the Ineffable and the Ever-Receding Beyond.

The disciple wants the easiest path. Sri Krishna kindly consents. He says that the path of meditation is difficult, the path of selfless service is difficult and the path inspired by Love and Devotion is difficult. But still there is one more path which is extremely easy to follow. In this path, one has merely to renounce the fruit of action. If we cannot do our work as a dedicated service to God, we should not succumb to dark disappointment. We can just work, work for ourselves. We need only offer our fruits to the Lord. However we will do well if we do only that particular work which we feel from within to be right. Naturally we will do the work that is demanded of us by our soulful duty. If we do our soulful duty and offer the fruits to the Lord, in no time our Inner Pilot is won.

Devotion is more than enough to realise the Lord Krishna, the Truth Eternal. However, in this chapter Sri Krishna wants to widen Arjuna’s knowledge, philosophically and intellectually. Those who harbour philosophical and intellectual questions with regard to the Truth will now truly be satisfied.

We try to avoid and ignore that which creates problems in our life. According to Krishna, this so-called wisdom of ours is nothing short of ignorance. True, we shall not create problems on our own. But if the problems do appear, then we have to face them and enter into them and finally conquer them dauntlessly and totally.

Arjuna has already been blessed by the Lord with the inner heights. Now the Lord wants to illumine him with the knowledge of the Cosmos wherein he has to play a conscious role. Matter and spirit. Prakriti and Purusha. The Field and the Knower of the Field. The body is the Field. The Soul is the Knower thereof. True wisdom lies in realising the Knower Supreme and the Cosmos, known and revealed.

There are twenty-four Tattvas, principles, that go to form the Field. The first group of great elements or bases is: earth, water, fire, air and ether. The field also houses the ego and the earth-bound mind, the intellect; the five organs of action—hands, feet, tongue and the two organs of elimination; also the sense organs such as nose, mouth, eyes, ears, and so on. The five spheres of the senses are: sight, smell, taste, hearing and touch.

Only one thing is to be known. To know that the Lord is within the Cosmos, without the Cosmos and beyond the Cosmos is to know everything.