Krishna on perfection (contd…)

By way of these illustrations Krishna persuades Arjuna that if he flowers to maximum as a warrior- which is his innate nature- he will become a Krishna in his own right. Had Krishna been born 2000 years later he would have said, “I am Arjuna among the warrior.” When Krishna declares his being, he is not claiming greatness. To claim greatness he need not compare himself with beasts and birds, snakes and reptiles. Claims to greatness can be made directly, but Krishna really does not claim any greatness for himself. He is speaking about a law of growth, a universal law which is that when you draw out the best in you, when you actualize your highest potential you become God. When there is no difference what so ever between our potentiality and actuality, we become God. When the highest possibility of our life is actualized we attain to Godhood. If there is a distance between our potential and actual states of being, it means we are yet on the way to our destiny. And Godliness is everybody’s destiny. 

Here Krishna has to play double role. Krishna will be of no use if he is only his friend, but if he reveals his Godliness indiscriminately, Arjuna may be so frightened that he runs away. So all the time Krishna has to strike a balance between the two roles he is playing. While he continues to be Arjuna’s friend he also declares his Godliness from time to time. Whenever he finds Arjuna is relaxed, he declares his Godliness. And when Arjuna is assailed with doubt and confusion he returns to his friendly approach. His approach is very delicate, and very few Buddha’s have had to deal with such a situation as Krishna faces in the war of Mahabharata. Buddha does not have to deal with such a delicate situation. He knows his people clearly; he knows that his people have come to sit at his feet to learn truth from him, so the communication with them is easy and straight. Mahavira too, has no such difficulties with his listeners. Krishna’s difficulty with Arjuna is real; he has to play a double role. It is really difficult to teach a friend, to be his or her teacher. It is difficult even to be an adviser to a friend. So Krishna on one hand placates him with phrases like “O great warrior,” and on the other he tells him “You are an ignoramus, you don’t know the reality.” If we bear in mind this aspect of Gita, we will have very less difficulty understanding it. 

To understand Gita, let us try and understand Krishna. 

Dr Dwarakanath - Mitran Foundation