Ye yathá máḿ prapadyante taḿstathaeva bhajámyaham;
Mama vartmánuvarttante manusyáh pártha sarvashah.⁽¹⁾

[I appear before a person according to his or her desires. His or her whole being will be filled with My being. All the jiivas of this universe are rushing towards Me, knowingly or unknowingly.]

Krśńa says human beings attain Parama Puruśa in whichever way they want. Their desires to attain Him are fulfilled according to their expectations. Suppose someone has a desire to eat delicious food. Parama Puruśa will grant that wish, and the person may be reborn in the next life as a wolf or wild boar, to eat to his or her heart’s content. A woman who wishes to adorn herself with ornaments may be reborn as a colourfully-marked peacock. One day, however, a hunter may shoot the beautiful peacock with an arrow. As one desires, so one attains. Similarly, human beings attain Parama Puruśa according to their inner desire. So before wishing to attain something, one must be extra-cautious. Suppose a man wants to be a king. In the next life he may be born into the household of a poor man whose surname is “Raja” [“King”]. He wanted to be a Raja and he became one! One must be very cautious before wishing for anything.

In this regard there is a nice story. Once a certain person asked Shiva to grant him the boon of immortality. Shiva told him: “It’s impossible to become immortal. You should think more intelligently before asking for anything.” So the man said: “All right, please grant me the boon that I will never die at night or during the day.” He died in the evening!

In fact, the best thing is not to ask Parama Puruśa for anything. Krśńa says: “I will grant one’s prayers in whichever way they are worded.” According to the degree of their devotion human beings decide what to ask from Parama Puruśa. If their devotion is motivated by too much selfishness, what will they ask? They will say internally to Parama Puruśa, “Well, Mr. So-and-so is harassing me, my tenant refuses to vacate my house, and Mr. Such-and-such is my sworn enemy; so, O Lord, please let them go to hell. Finish them off for good.” Now, if one prays in this way, “O Lord, Mr. So-and-so is my sworn enemy, so please let him go to hell,” the Lord will have to act intelligently, because that man’s enemy will also say, “O Náráyańa, let my enemy go to hell.” So Náráyańa will be in a fix. Whom should He protect, whom should He please? He has to handle both sides. So if anyone says to Parama Puruśa, “Please crush my enemy so that the thorns will be removed from my path,” Parama Puruśa will act as He thinks fit. It is certain that the devotees of this category will never attain Parama Puruśa because it is not Him they really want. And when they do not actually want Him, they cannot hope to attain Him.

Let me give an example. While a mother is cooking in the kitchen her baby starts crying. To pacify the baby and make it forget about her, she gives it a few colourful toys and then resumes her work. But if the baby is clever it will refuse everything except its mother. Finding it difficult to pacify her baby, the mother will have to stop cooking for a while, take her baby in her arms and comfort it. There is no other way, otherwise the baby will cry itself hoarse and the neighbours will comment: “What sort of parents are they? They don’t seem to care for their children at all.”

Those who want their enemies to be annihilated may or may not have their wish granted by Parama Puruśa. One thing is certain, however, they will never attain Him. About that there is not the least doubt. So you must fix your priorities very carefully.

Some people say: “No, no, I don’t want my enemies to be annihilated, I just want my own prosperity, my own economic success. I want to be successful in my job.” You will come across many such people who ask for promotion in their jobs. Again, Náráyańa will be in a fix as to whom to accept and whom to reject. How can you please all the applicants competing for one post? Obviously He will make arrangements to ensure that the post goes to the deserving candidate. So one may or may not get the post one asked for, but one thing is certain, one will not attain Parama Puruśa as there was no real desire to attain Him.

Those who want the annihilation of their enemies are called támasika bhaktas [static devotees]. Those who want their own prosperity in different walks of life are not támasika bhaktas, because they do not wish to harm others. However, their desires may or may not be supported by rational thought. When they are dominated by selfishness, logic and reason can be of no further value. Such people are called rájasika bhaktas [mutative devotees].

The next grade of bhaktas say, “O Náráyańa, we want nothing except liberation. We don’t want to live any more because our health is deteriorating. What’s the use of continuing to live in this world?” But if Parama Puruśa improves their health, they may change their minds! Even if one’s health is restored, one may still be unable to digest delicious food and drink and may be forced to live on bread and soup. Unable to relish delicious dishes, one may not wish to live long. However, if Parama Puruśa improves one’s digestive power, one might then say: “Actually, Parama Puruśa, I would like to live a little longer.” Previously, however, one was reluctant to continue living because one’s poor health prevented one from enjoying the comforts and pleasures of life. Other people may say: “Well, we’ve grown quite old. Having reached such a ripe old age, if we eat without doing some kind of ritualistic worship, people will speak ill of us and criticize us. So we’d better follow the ritualistic formalities by chanting a few mantras.” These categories are called sáttvikii bhaktas. They don’t ask for any material thing no doubt, but they ask for liberation as they have reached the last stage of life. Parama Puruśa may or may not grant liberation to these bhaktas. One thing which is sure is that they will not attain Him, because they want liberation, but not Parama Puruśa Himself.

So Krśńa says: “I will grant one’s prayers in whichever way they are asked.”

The next grade of devotee says: “As Parama Puruśa knows better than me about my own needs, why should I ask Him for anything? He knows exactly what I need for my development.” A mother knows more about the needs of her child than the child itself. When the child weeps, the mother instinctively knows that the child is feeling cold, for example, and covers its body with a blanket. The child stops crying immediately. Just as the child is dependent on its mother, human beings are dependent on Parama Puruśa. That is, “I know that You will surely do what is good for me. So why should I ask You for anything? It is meaningless, as You know better than me where my best interests lie.” So the higher-grade devotees do not pray for anything. Their simple approach is, “Parama Puruśa, please do whatever You think is best for me. All I want is to give You joy through my actions. And by giving You joy I shall also get joy. I act only to please You and thereby please myself. This is my one and only desire – I have no other interest.” This is termed rágánuga bhakti. Its spirit is, “I don’t want anything. I only want to do Your work. I want to get joy by doing Your work, by loving You, by making You happy.”

But the highest-grade devotees say, “I want all my actions to give You joy. It’s immaterial whether that brings joy or pain to me, it doesn’t bother me at all. My only task is to give You joy”. This is called rágátmika bhakti and is the devotion of the highest category. One should possess this type of devotion. “I will do those actions which will make Parama Puruśa happy, but which may or may not bring joy to me.” Human beings should act in this way.

Krśńa said, Ye yathá máḿ prapadyante – “I will give that which one wants from Me.” To the one who wants to give joy to Parama Puruśa, Krśńa says: “So be it”. He or she is the noblest karmii (person of action) of the world, the greatest jiṋánii,⁽²⁾ and the greatest asset of the world.

Mama vartmánuvarttante manusyáh pártha sarvashah. Krśńa said: “No one can step off the path I have made. Everyone will have to move along that path. Even one who wishes to go away from Me also moves along that same path – although at an ever-increasing distance from Me. If that person seeks Me again, he or she will come nearer to me.” The sooner human beings realize this supreme truth, the better it will be. Some understand it in youth, others in old age. The earlier one understands, however, the better it is. There is no discrimination according to age.

There is a fine story in this regard. Dhruva had been sitting in prolonged meditation. As Dhruva was but a young boy and was making steady progress on the spiritual path, the great sádhakas became alarmed. Indra, Varuńa and Agni were concerned that they would lose their prestige if this continued, so they began to conspire against him. By any means he should be disturbed and forced to break his meditation. So Narada went and offered him many tempting objects, saying: “Dhruva, break your meditation. Get up. I will give you many toys, ornaments and sweets.” Dhruva gave a firm reply:

Kaomára ácaret prájiṋah dharmán Bhágavatániha;
Durlabhaḿ mánuśyaḿ janma tadapyadhruvamarthadam.

“It is very difficult to get a human life. Only after living life after life as an insect or a worm, etc., does one attain a human body – and then only if one is very lucky. Those who utilize this body for noble deeds are few, and those who utilize this life for spiritual progress are even fewer; so as I have attained a human body, the more I utilize it for noble deeds from an early age, the better it will be. As it is difficult to attain a human body, and even more difficult to attain a body which can be utilized properly, one should start a life of spirituality from the age of five. Oh, Narada, I may become decrepit, I may even die tomorrow. Why should I wait until I’m old? Besides, the sooner we do good deeds in our life, the better it is for us. Why should we delay?”

When Ravana was about to die, Ramachandra went to pay obeisance to him and said, “O Ravana, please be kind enough to impart some advice.” Ravana gave him two pieces of advice: Shubhasya shiighram, ashubhasya kálaharańam –

“Whenever you want to do something good, whenever the desire to do something good arises in your mind, do it immediately without the least delay. Spring into immediate action. If you delay, you may change your mind, you may forget your pious desire. The moment there is a desire to do something good, start the very next moment. Rama, I had the idea to build a staircase from the earth to heaven so that everyone would be able to climb up there. However, I put it off until another day, and thus wasted time. And now I’m about to die and have no time left in this life to build the staircase.

“My second piece of advice to you is this. When you want to do something bad, keep putting it off until the next day, and thus delay. It is possible that your mind will change with the change in time and you will reverse your decision. If you do it without delaying, however, it can never be undone.”

Ravana had made a hasty decision to abduct Sita. Had he not implemented his decision with such speed, had he waited a while, he would not have met such a fate. But as he executed his decision without the least delay, he ended up being killed. Hence the advice Shubhasya shiighram, ashubhasya kálaharańam.

Krśńa says: “Knowingly or unknowingly, all will have to move along the path. There is no other path. So why increase the distance from Me? Rather, the more the distance decreases, the better it is for unit beings.”

Footnotes

(1) Bhagavad Giitá. –Trans.

(2) Karmiis and jiṋániis are, respectively, sádhakas who follow the path of action or work, and sádhakas who follow the path of knowledge or discrimination. –Trans.