which is ever being filled but is always still-can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires.
A person who has given up all desires for sense pleasure, who lives free from desires, who has given up all sense of proprietorship and is free from false ego-he alone can attain real peace.
That is the way of the spiritual and godly life, after attaining which a man is not confused. If one is thus situated even at the hour of death, one can enter into the kingdom of God.
Now let me Summarize Chapter 2:
Arjuna who was confused about his duty, surrenders to Lord Krishna as His disciple and requests the Lord to instruct him. Lord Krishna teaches Arjuna the difference between temporary material body and the eternal spiritual soul. Lord Krishna reminds Arjuna of his duty as a Kshatriya and encourages him to fight on religious principles. Lord also explains him the ill effects of not fighting. Lord Krishna explains the process of transmigration, the nature of soul, devotional service to the Supreme and the characteristics of a self-realized person.
He talks about how to work without fruitive results, by engaging in devotional service to the Lord and becoming free from the results of work in the material world. In this way become free from cycle of birth and death and attain the state beyond all miseries by going back to Godhead. This state is known as Krishna consciousness. When one is connected with Supreme in Krishna consciousness, he receives superior intelligence and a steady mind and from this comes the ultimate state of peace and happiness.
I asked everyone, “Can anyone tell me what do you understand from this chapter?” One participant replied, “Arjuna surrenders to Lord Krishna asking to help him or guide him”. The other said, “It talks about transmigration, the difference between our body and soul.” One participant asked, “How is this relevant today?” I said, “This is my favorite question, let me share something interesting with all of you.
I want you all to close your eyes and imagine you are on a big ship; suddenly the ship is about to sink. Captain of the ship calls for emergency “Abort, Abort” and you jump into the water to save your life. You see a lifeboat and swim towards it. After you climbed on it, how many people do you think will be there with you on that lifeboat? 2, 5, 10, 15, 20 etc. These are exactly the number of friends you have in your life, this is according to a personality quiz that I happen to come across many many years back while surfing the Internet. Now I want you to ask yourself how many best friends do you have in your life? 0,1, 2, 3, etc. These best friends are nothing but your Lifesavers who will help you through trouble waters. So have at least 1-2 best friends in your life.
There are 4 ways to find your best friend for life.
1: Find a friend with two ears and an open heart
I came across a beautiful meme which says, ‘When two ears are put side by side, it forms the shape of the heart. Interestingly, the word “ear” sits right in middle of the word “heart” (h-ear-t). The ear is the way to the heart. So, if you want to win someone’s heart, learn to listen to him or her.’ Sometimes in our life, we don’t need any advice but just a sincere friend to talk our heart out. There is a quote that says, “Just being with your best friend, is all that you need.” So have that Lifesaver who will listen to you and console you in trouble situations.
2: Find a friend who will guide you in the right direction
We all know that Lord Krishna and Arjuna were Best Friends. When the war between Kauravas and Pandavas was finalized, Duryodhana and Arjuna went to Lord Krishna for support. Lord Krishna said, “I will help you both, but to one I will give my vast army and to the other I will only give moral support because I will not fight”. Arjuna immediately chose Lord Krishna because he knew with His support and guidance they will win the war and Duryodhana was too happy to have the army by his side. This was indeed the turning point in the Mahabharata, where just the presence of the Lord was needed to win the war. Arjuna surrendered himself to Lord Krishna for guidance. Similarly, we are also like Arjuna who are facing challenges in our day-to-day lives and we too need a best friend like Lord Krishna by our side to help us win inner battles, to achieve success in our lives, to live our life in happiness and peace. So have that Lifesaver, have that Best Friend who will guide you in trouble situations.
3: Find a friend whom you can trust but keep your eyes open
You see trusting someone is the most difficult thing. You feel scared what if this friend tells someone or what if he or she laughs at me or gives me a wrong advise. But the thing is unless you open your heart out, how will you know that this person can be my best friend. You finally will get two results: A best friend for life or a lesson for life. I have 2 best friends in my life for the past 20 years and 1 best friend from school. Many a times they would advise me that there is a ditch ahead of you, don’t go. I used to not listen and then I would fall into the ditch. But they were always there giving their hands to pull me out of the ditch, of course after having a hefty laugh. That’s what friendship is. It takes a lot of time, patience and energy to build trust. But also be careful of those friends who can take you in wrong direction. Never let anyone take advantage of you for money, love, sex, drugs or revenge. So have that Lifesaver whom you can trust, who can take you out of trouble waters but at the same time keep your eyes open on the Lifesaver, making sure he or she doesn’t drown you.
4: Find a real friend who will hold your hands and give you a hug
Today we are in a technology driven environment where we have more number of friends on Facebook and Instagram than the ones close to us. We spend more time on smartphones than with people wanting to be with us. Go knock at the door of your friends, give them a hug and spend time with them. Take time out for real people because real friends hold hands not virtual ones. When you are surrounded by negative energy, your best friend will hold your hand give you a tight hug and transfer positive energy to make you feel good.
There was a girl who had many friends on Facebook but she didn’t have a single best friend. As time passed by, she started feeling lonely, sad, depressed and later ended up committing suicide. I happened to ask many middle age men and women, “Do you have a best friend in your life?” The answer I received was common, “Are you kidding, at this juncture of our lives who has time for friends we are too busy with work and family.” When I asked the same question to old men and women, the answer I got was, “Wish I had a best friend in my life.” So have that Lifesaver who will hold your hands, give you a hug and will never leave you alone.
Arjuna was fortunate enough to have Lord Krishna by his side, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. So when Lord Krishna saw that Arjuna is refusing to fight the war because of his feelings of compassion towards his blood relatives. He became his Lifesaver and a Best Friend who guided and motivated him to do his duty by showing him the right direction, after he surrendered to Lord Krishna asking for help.
God cannot be there everywhere, so he created a Best Friend. So let’s make a new beginning by having a Best Friend in our life. With whom we not only want to party with but who is also a good listener who urges us to share our problems, who can guide us to take the right decisions in life and whom we can trust by keeping our eyes open. In this digital age of Facebook and Instagram, lets take a step forward and move from a tech life to a more human life and have a Best Friend for Life.
Everyone in the session stood up and started applauding on the simple yet wonderful life lesson.
**Lesson No: 5 Have at least 1 Best Friend in your life who will guide you in the right direction, who will help you win inner battles and help you come out of trouble situations.
Everyone
