On many occasions I have preached you the doctrine of strong individualism—the unfoldment of the ego-consciousness. It is needed, but there is much more and until you know something about that you will be face to face with grave dangers indeed! Simple individualism or Egoism when not guided and controlled by the Higher Reason of the Spiritual Consciousness is more dangerous than all the dreaded forces of nature. It leads to a strong sense of separateness—if I may so put it—between man and man. You feel ever impelled and maddened by the “I-am-greater-than-you” promptings of your animal soul. You criticize others. It seems as if your eyes are only capable of detecting faults and shortcomings in others. Then there arises the thirst for power, for fame, and for self-aggrandisement.

You want to rule, to subdue, to make others your slaves. Did Napoleon—who is an example in point—care for the lives of others so long as his selfish ambitions were gratified? Self-assertion, self-conceit, selfishness, greed, anger, are the foul products of Individualism minus Spiritual Consciousness. In the final illumination of Yoga, man becomes vividly, intensely, “Livingly” conscious of Unity. He is not conscious of Duality and Difference; “I” and “you” and “he” vanish for ever. Soul reveals itself and the Oneness under lying all phenomenal existence becomes an actual Fact and not a mere figment of the brain. This is the expansion of individuality, the union of the little self to the Supreme Self Yoga. Hence, the initiate to Yoga is trained to destroy the sense of “I-ness”—egoism—, to annihilate the ego or the “apparent man” who is relatively to God but a reflection of the Real Man—the “Soul of the Universe”—Emerson’s Over-Soul. This sense of separateness exists only in the sense-bound objective intellect—the mind of the flesh. It is the principle of Maya. It is the slayer of the real. It blinds the spiritual vision of man. It shuts out the inner life. Man sees nothing beyond this world. So long as we do not become conscious of this Unity religion has NOT begun for us.

The growth of the ego is an important factor in Evolution; but why? The real function of the aroused ego is to control and vanquish the animal soul. It can only succeed by aspiring towards its parent-source—the Absolute. By the reception of the incoming Divine Energy alone can it cope with the Lower Self and in no other way. This energy pours into and expands the ego in its silent struggles with the passions and appetites of the flesh. Woe unto the ego unless it consciously discards the animal soul! Woe unto it if it forgets its real nature! Beware, all of you who would lead the half, the worldly, half spiritual life. The desire to lead the Spiritual-sensual existence brings into conflict the laws and forces of the Nivritti and Pravritti margas and results in untold sufferings and pain, till at last with cries of anguish the soul is made to “disattach” itself from the lower and turn to the Higher self. In Shankar’s life you become vividly conscious of this perfect absorption of the human soul into the Divine. It is written about him that the surge of Divine Love would lead him into Samadhi every hour in the day. He would become unconscious of this lower world and his entire face would then become bathed in Living Light. This same phenomenon is repeated of Lord Gauranga. People felt so irresistibly attracted to this light that they would fall to kissing his body all over.

There are three forms of service you can render to humanity; (a) physically by feeding their bodies; (b) mentally by feeding their intellects; (c) spiritually by feeding their souls. The last is the greatest. Dr. T.R. Sanjivi did it. The man who realizes the infinite in the human body connects entire humanity with the Universal Power and thereby liberates and sets free a tremendous energy that works from the highest plane straight down to the lowest physical and tends to the permanent upliftment of the race. Open your eyes wide and see. Christ did this. So also Buddha. So also Zoroaster. So also a hundred others. So also has Sri Ramanuj. I have heard men criticize such souls! Oh, you, mortal pygmies, you moustached babies, you pitiable beggars, silence your impertinent tongues, for Heaven’s sake. You dare to commit the unpardonable sin of sitting in judgment upon a saint! How dare you? I say, How dare you? Alas! you are one of those fools who dare to rush in where angles fear to tread! Sri Ramanuj built no orphanages, no hospitals, none of your half penny toys of Maya. He built for eternity! Look well at this sentence and think all it means, that is, if you have any brains to think with, at all. Down on your knees and pray for forgiveness! All preaching, all talk of serving humanity spiritually, is for us imperfect ones! The silent example of life alone teaches. Spirituality is Life Eternal!

Dr. T.R.Sanjivi has “re-charged” the depleted souls of the men of Kali Yuga with spiritual life. Glory unto him! All reverence unto him! All power and success be the lot of his millions of admirers! Who feels most finely the throbbing pulse of humanity? Who stirs it most effectually? Your Glandstones and Bismarcks, Napoleons, Alexanders and Caesars, your kings, queens, world-conquerors, statesmen, scientists and artists;—all suffer eclipse and slip into the shade before the towering personalities of the Christ, Yogácháryás, Rishis and Munis of this world. These alone lived; the rest vegetated and were animals. The truly religion man alone feels for humanity. He alone moves it by his tremendous thought power. And who is religious really? All work, while no doubt a great thing for us, is a sign of imperfection and leads to the perpetuation of Maya. The man of realisation has gone beyond it. Who works? Do you? Or do I? Poor ignorant man not knowing the meaning of life cries out in delusion “I Work”. Look back. Scan thy past. examine it closely. Is it not a fact that all you have done, said and thought was impelled by a force behind you? Where is your free-will? The freedom of your will is relative to God’s will! What He wills you too will.

God’s will is man’s will. Learn to read aright the workings of this supreme will. Give up the habit of fault-finding. Judge not. You know not what is working behind, the actions of each human soul. You know not what place each one fills in the great Cosmic Plane. The place that you tread upon is holy. The mysteries of the human heart baffles human understanding. I once thought this was all moonshine. But a deeper insight into human nature makes one more prudent and less sweeping in one’s condemnations. We talk. We criticise. We wrangle. We read. We write. We talk of working for humanity and criticise saints, the depths and heights of whose natures our small intelligence cannot possibly span. Your great soul who has done such glorious services to humanity used to say “I have hardly got a spark of Dr. Sanjivi’s profound nature. If I have done anything for this world it is my Master’s. Only the mistakes are mine.” Humanity does not need our puny services. We grow by serving it. God rules and this I say in spite of cartloads of book learning which only deadens the souls. The teacher teaches himself. The preacher preaches to himself. The worker serves himself. ***

WHAT is our mission on earth is rather a whimsical question. This can only be solved on the presumption that there is a life after death and God exists. While the very existence of an Infinite Being itself is in question, it is rather premature to consider “Our Mission on Earth.” Let us first enquire and prove conclusively the existence of an All-Powerful Being.

In our daily life we come across various sorts of people who hold different dogmas. Some profess atheism; some are of opinion that atheists do not exist. We can affirm that there are many of this faith. Some, after an ardent search after God in vain, come to the conclusion that there is no such Being, and pass into a state of stupor and dissuade from further attempts. There is another class of people who also style themselves “Atheists”; the main basis on which they argue is on the imperfect understanding of Right and Wrong. Their inference is that these two are a dark chaotic self-contradictory jumble of words. There is yet another class who do not trouble themselves about the question at all. This is nothing but gross indifferentism. We can boldly assert that the major portion of humanity belongs to this latter class : “Indifferentists.”

Now for the Materialists : These also can be classed with the above atheists; but they have one point in their favour. These are not lazy and indifferent, they are ever progressive and energetic. It is not the theory of these people that no such Being as God exists, but they say they do not find any necessity for the introduction of the existence of a God as they can explain every phenomenon without the aid of a God. It is the doctrine of the Materialists that by the law of motion inherent in them, certain elements indivisible and unchangeable at a certain stage of evolution agglomerate consciousness.
The mind is the outcome of matter; it exists and works as long as a certain arrangement called brain exists; and, it dies with the change or decay of that brain-matter. This is nothing but an excellent illustration of inverted logic. Now we have to proceed on two things, Matter and Mind. These are interdependent; one cannot exist without the other; we can neither think, without mind, nor annihilate matter without annihilating Mind. To hypothecate the existence of Matter before Mind is rather absurd, as it would mean that thought can transcend itself.

Emerson says : “As thinker, mankind have ever divided into two sects, materialists and Idealists; the first class founded on experience, the second on consciousness; the first class begin to think from the data of the senses, the second class perceive that the senses are not final, and say the senses give us representations of things, but what are the things themselves they cannot tell. The materialists insist on facts, on history, on the force of circumstances and the animal wants of man; the idealist, on the power of Thought and Will, on inspiration, on miracle, on individual culture. These two modes of thinking are both natural, but the idealist contends that his way of thinking is in higher nature.

He concedes all that the other affirms, admits the impressions of sense, admits their coherence their use and beauty, and then asks the materialist for his grounds of assurance that things are as his sense represent them. But I, he says, affirm facts not affected by the illusions of sense, facts which are of the same nature as the faculty which reports them, and not liable to doubt; facts which in their first appearance to us assume a native superiority to material facts, degrading these into a language by which the first are to be spoken; facts which it only needs a retirement from the senses to discern. Every materialist will be an idealist; but an idealist can never go backward to be a materialist.

“The idealist, in speaking of events does not see them as spirits. He does not see the sensuous fact; by no means; but he will not see that alone. He does not deny the presence of this table, this chair and the walls of this room, but he looks at these things as the reverse side of the tapestry, as the other end, each being a sequel or completion of a spiritual fact which merely concerns him. This manner of looking at things transfers every object in nature from an independent and anomalous position into the consciousness. Even the materialist, Condiallac, perhaps the most logical expounder of materialism, was constrained to say : “Though we should soar into the heavens, though we should sink into the abyss, we never go out of ourselves; it is always our own thought that we perceive.” What more could an idealist say ?

We have to allow the previous existence of space, as something different from matter or atom, where the various forces or laws find room to play, when we think of the conglomeration of atoms. Hence the irresistible conclusion that anything which is not space, anything remaining in space, can be divided in as much as it has size. This division of atoms into electrons and their reduction to the primordial state has been proved by Prof. Crooks, and this theory of the materialist has been blown out. Still beyond this there is the eternal, unchangeable uniform space which defies every solution of materialist. Then what is space?

Now coming to the theory that matter produces consciousness in a certain stage of the evolution, and with the concurrent change of the brain, our thoughts and ideas do also change, we cannot but quote the beautiful words of Mrs. Besant that thoughts do indeed vary as to the sate of the brain, but they also at times vary inversely. “And now compare these facts for a moment with the theory of the materialist. What is the state of the brain in the hypnotic or mesmeric trance ? There is no secret about it. You reduce the body to a state which, except to the trained investigator, is not distinguishable from death. You stop the breathing of the lungs. You check the circulation of the heart, so that the hand cannot feel it pulsating unless it be by a delicate apparatus.
What is the result of this condition on the brain ? That the brain is supplied with a very sluggish stream of blood from the slow action of the heart—the blood which reaches it has not in it the element of oxygen which is necessary for the working of the brain. The argument is that if you spoil the blood, the thought becomes confused; that if there is an insufficient supply of blood, thought can no longer function; but you have reduced those very conditions of an insufficient supply of unoxygenated blood, and the result is, not that thought is stopped, not that consciousness is absent.

It is not that the faculties are shown more vividly than ever when the brain is well-supplied, but that consciousness is still present when the brain is paralysed. Then I say you have broken the materialistic induction. I say one link of the entire materialistic chain has gone, and the whole value of induction, as every student of Bain or Mill will tell you, lies in its being a perfect induction. You do not need to answer every argument to negate every proposition. You need only to show one fact in opposition to the induction and the whole chain is broken as the ordinary chain would be when one link has been severed.”

Now with materialism, atheism also has received its death-blow. For what is atheism; it is nothing but a simple denial of the life after death, the immortality of man and the existence of a God, the real cause, infinite and absolute. In face of the modern experiments of the spiritualists all the world over it is rather absurd not to believe in a life after death. Now to the assumption that the existence is a limited quantity we are forced to question what is the limit ? Does it not itself relate to something beyond ? Is not every relation a correlation ? How can we conceive or think of a finite object out of many having necessary relation, co-existent with it, and following it ? It is an impossible task to deny the existence of the Infinite.

We are now forced to admit the existence of a self-existing and unchangeable something, otherwise, where is the basis for the world to stand? It is here the speculations of the philosophers come short of the mark and they have to bow down. Spencer says: “Persisting unchanging in quantity but ever changing in form under these sensible appearances which the universe presents to us and which we are obliged to recognise as without limit in space and without beginning or end in time.” Here you see that the existence of the absolute is a factor which we have to admit. Now we have conclusively proved the existence of a God and a life after death.

Now to the conception of God : What is God ? What am I or you ? There is a spiritual substance which is neither conscious nor unconscious. It is eternally enshrouded by its own light. Matter is nothing but an attribute of this universal substance. This universe of attributers in its primordial form is called Mula Prakriti. It is alternately subject to the laws of expansion and contraction or evolution and dissolution. This Mula Prakriti has no independent existence of its own as it is simply an attribute of the spiritual substance. This same Mula Prakriti is styled Maya which is and is not. Hear what is meant by is and is not ? It is nothing but that Maya exists as an attribute of the spiritual substance, and an attribute cannot by itself exist without an underlying substance. This spiritual substance is called God.

Now to the origin of Jiva. As explained above Mula Prakriti is subject to evolution, and as it progresses, various sorts of material organisms come into force. As a common mirror has the capacity to reflect light, these organisms have the capacity to reflect the spiritual substance. Man is a composite being and he has three bodies, physical, intellectual and moral consciousness; and beyond these there is even a fourth which is the most important of all—subject consciousness. The light of this subject consciousness shines through the other three sheaths—physical, intellectual and moral, and you are nothing but God reflected in Prakriti.

Here you see that in yourself you have three coats each of which is by itself more powerful than the other. Then your ultimate aim ought to be, first, to suppress this physical consciousness and bring the intellectual one into activity; then, the next course would be to supress that intellectual one which would in turn bring the moral consciousness into play. Then, the last stage, the suppression of this moral consciousness takes you to the original force —subject consciousness or BRAHMA. This is Mukti or Salvation. Here you realise. “Awake ! Arise, or Be for ever Fallen.” OM. ***

यदि आप भगवत् गीता को सच्चे दिल से मानते हैं तो श्रीकृष्ण का कथन सुनिये:

न मे पार्थास्ति कर्तव्यं त्रिषु लोकेषु किञ्चन।
नानवाप्तमवाप्तव्यं वर्त एव च कर्मणि॥       (गीता 3.22)
यदि ह्यहं न वर्तेयं जातु कर्मण्यतन्द्रितः।
मम वर्त्मानुवर्तन्ते मनुष्याः पार्थ सर्वशः॥ (गीता 3.23)

प्रथम उनका कथन है कि तीनों लोकों में कर्तव्य जैसी कोई क्रिया करना मेरे लिये आवश्यक नहीं है; कुछ भी ऐसा नहीं जो अप्राप्त हो, कुछ भी ऐसा नहीं जो प्राप्त करना हो, फिर भी मैं (सतत) कर्म करता रहता हूं। यदि मैं अथकित रहते हुए कर्म में नहीं बरतूंगा तो समस्त मानव मुझसे प्रभावित होकर, स्वयं भी निरुत्साहित होकर, उदासीन होकर कर्म न करने में प्रेरित होंगे। अर्थात् हम कर्म में सदैव इसलिये प्रेरित हैं क्योंकि ईश्वर सदैव 24*7 कर्म करते रहते हैं।

वाह! भगवान् ने क्या अचंभित करने वाला संदेश दे दिया। ईश्वर कर्म (विचार) में सदैव तल्लीन हैं इसलिये हम भी कर्म (विचार) करने में 24*7 प्रेरित हैं। इस विचार की प्रक्रिया में एक क्षण का भी व्यवधान नहीं आता है। यदि आप अनुभव करेंगे तो आपको ज्ञात होगा कि मनुष्य एक ही क्रिया इस देह में सतत करता रहता है — वह है विचार की प्रक्रिया। थोड़ी गहराई में उतरें तो आपको पता लगेगा कि भगवान् इन श्लोकों द्वारा यह स्पष्ट करना चाहते हैं कि मनुष्य की चिंतन प्रक्रिया उन पर आश्रित है। क्या इससे यह संदेश नहीं प्राप्त हो रहा है कि भगवान् और मानव के बीच सीधा संबंध है और इसलिये यदि यह कहा जाय कि ईश्वर ने आत्मा के रूप में ससीम होकर, मानव को अपना निवास-स्थल बनाकर, मानव के जीवन-संचालन का भार वहन करते हुये उसे अपना प्रतिरूप बनाकर, अपने आनंद के लिये पृथ्वी पर उतारा है तो इसमें कोई अतिशयोक्ति नहीं होगी, वरन् इस सत्य की प्रतिष्ठा होगी कि प्रत्येक मनुष्य में ईश्वर की उपस्थिति उसमें आनंद प्राप्ति के निमित्त है, नामान्तर में इसे ही ईश्वर प्राप्ति की संज्ञा देते हैं। ईश्वर का एक नाम परमानंद भी है जो यह दर्शाता है कि यदि मानव इस आनंद की प्राप्ति कर लेता है तो इसे ईश्वर की प्राप्ति ही समझना चाहिये। पुरातन योग की उच्चतम दशा में भी इसी आनंद की प्राप्ति होती है। बोलो हां! 

यदि आप हां कह रहे हैं तो इसका मतलब यह होगा कि आप हमारी उपर्युक्त बातों को शिरोधार्य कर रहे हैं तथा अपने को भगवान् से सीधे जुड़ा हुआ मान रहे हैं। भगवान् के विषय में कुछ भी कहना गलत होगा क्योंकि ईश्वर निरपेक्ष (Absolute) हैं तथा उनका प्रतिरूप मानव सापेक्ष है और इसलिये पृथ्वी पर सब कुछ सापेक्षिक रूप से जाना जाता है। सुख-दु:ख साथ बोले जाते हैं क्योंकि हम सुख को दुःख के सापेक्ष (Relation में) बतलाने की चेष्टा करते हैं। ठंडा-गर्म भी साथ ही बोले जाते हैं क्योंकि हम ठंडा कहते हैं तो इसलिये क्योंकि गर्म का हमें भान है। यदि निरपेक्ष होकर हम यह कहें कि पृथ्वी पर सब कुछ ठंडा ही तो है, यहां गर्म कुछ भी है नहीं, तो लोग हमें पागल या मूर्ख कहने से बाज नहीं आयेंगे। हम ठंडा और गर्म का भेद न बता सकें इसके लिये हमें दोनों का ही अलग-अलग भान नहीं होना चाहिये। गर्म को ठंडे से बतायें या ठंडे को गर्म से बतायें, यह हम कर नहीं सकते।

ईश्वर एवं ईश्वर से आपके संबंध को और घनिष्ठ करने करने की चेष्टा करते हैं। आपका सोना एवं जागना लगभग एक विद्युतीय बल्ब के बुझने एवं जलने के समान है। परंतु बुझने एवं जलने में विद्युतीय शक्ति की अत्यंत आवश्यकता है। दूसरा यह है कि कोई बुझाने और जलाने वाला चाहिये। पृथ्वी पर आलोकित सभी वस्तुएं या पदार्थ स्थूल हैं जिनके संचालन के लिये व्यवस्था बनाई गई है। मानव-देह भी स्थूल है, इसके संचालन की व्यवस्था भी सुनिश्चित की गई है। मानव-देह का संचालन उसमें उपस्थित ईश्वर अंश आत्मा द्वारा होता है, ऐसा सर्वमान्य एवं सर्वविदित है। आत्मा ईश्वर का अंश है इसलिये अदृश्य ईश्वरीय सभी कार्य मानव में आत्मा द्वारा संचालित होता है, अर्थात आपके सोने और जागने की व्यवस्था आत्मा की शक्ति द्वारा सुनिश्चित होती है। आप सोते हैं तो मृतवत् होते हैं परंतु इस अवस्था में भी सदैव सक्रिय होते हैं जिसका आपको अल्पाधिक भान भी होता है; जब आप जागते हैं तो अपने को सक्रिय कहते हैं परंतु क्या यह सक्रियता आपको परतंत्रता प्रतीत नहीं होती है। अवश्य होती है परंतु अहंकार के कारण, जड़ता एवं अज्ञानता के कारण आप कभी भी यह जान नहीं पाते हैं कि आप परतंत्र है, स्वतंत्र नहीं है। यह परतंत्रता आपमें किसी दूसरे की उपस्थिति को इंगित करती है, इसे ही भगवान् कहते हैं, आत्मा कहते हैं, मन कहते हैं। यदि ईश्वरीय चेतना आपमें विद्यमान न हो तो आप न सो सकेंगे और न ही जाग सकेंगे। जानना यह है कि ब्रह्मांड में कोई ऐसी अलौकिक सत्ता 24*7 कार्यरत है जो समस्त ब्रह्मांड को एवं हमारे पिंड को संचालित रखती है। आप मानें या न मानें यदि ब्रह्मांड में कार्यरत शक्ति को जानने में चेष्टारत होंगे तो अपने ईश्वर के साथ संबंध को जान सकेंगे, अन्यथा नहीं। थोड़ी सी जानकारी भी अत्यधिक हितकारक होगी यह धारणा बनाकर रखें। अपना भगवान् के साथ सीधा संबंध है, ऐसा जाने तथा इसे स्थापित करने की चेष्टा करें। यही योग है।

समस्त ब्रह्मांड के कण-कण की उत्पत्ति का कहीं न कहीं, कोई न कोई कर्णधार या सूत्राधार तो होगा? यदि ब्रह्मांड को स्वत: उद्भूत मानें तो भी ‘स्वत:’ की स्थापना तो मानेंगे ना। यदि बिग बैंग के सिद्धांत (Theory) को मानते हैं तो भी स्वत: होने वाली इस क्रिया के पीछे कोई कारण तो होना चाहिये। कारण को ईश्वर की संज्ञा दें तो कोई अतिशयोक्ति नहीं होगी क्योंकि स्वत: शब्द ‘स्व’ से निर्मित है। ईश्वर को न मानने वालों को भी उत्पत्ति के कारण को तो स्वीकार करना ही होगा और कारण को ही आस्तिक ईश्वर की संज्ञा दें तो इसमें क्या आपत्ति हो सकती है। किसी चीज की उत्पत्ति एवं उसको उत्पन्न करने वाले में सदैव एक संबंध होता है, वह संबंध उत्पन्न करने वाले की इच्छा को प्रकट करता है। किसी इच्छा से  संचालित होकर किसी वस्तु का निर्माण स्वयं एक संबंध बना लेता है और यदि ईश्वर ने इच्छा करके अपने प्रतिरूप में मानव को उतारा है तो यह उसकी इच्छा की पराकाष्ठा है तथा उसके और मानव के गहन संबंध का प्रतीक भी है। पृथ्वी पर मानव ही अकेला प्राणी है जिसमें मनोमय कोश का विकास होता है, इतना ही नहीं विज्ञानमय एवं आनंदमय कोश का सृजन होता है। आनंद की प्राप्ति पृथ्वी पर केवल मनुष्य को होती है। यह इस तथ्य को दर्शाता है कि ईश्वर ने मानव को अपना सब कुछ दे रखा है जिससे वह आनंद प्राप्त कर सके, परंतु मनुष्य मोह एवं लोभ के जाल में फंसकर अपनी असीम सामर्थ्य को नहीं जान पाता है। ससीम चीजों को प्राप्त कर उसमें इतना व्यस्त हो जाता है कि ईश्वर की असीम अंतर्निहित सामर्थ्यों का उसे पता ही नहीं लग पाता है। जिनसे उसका जीवन संचालित है उनको ही दरकिनार करता है। ईश्वर का मानव से घनिष्ठ संबंध है परंतु मानव को ईश्वर के साथ संबंध का बोध न होने का कारण है उसका लौकिक चेष्टाओं में लिप्त होकर आधिकाधिक जड़ वस्तुओं की प्राप्ति में लिप्त होना। श्रीकृष्ण का कथन है:

न त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपाः।
न चैव न भविष्यामः सर्वे वयमतः परम्॥ (गीता 2.12)

ऐसा कदापि नहीं है कि मैं, या तुम, या राजा लोग (आत्मायें) किसी काल में नहीं थे। न मेरा और न ही मनुष्य का जन्म होता है, हम सब सदैव से रहे हैं, रह रहे हैं और आगे भी रहेंगे। ईश्वर का यहां इशारा आत्मा की ओर है जो भगवत् अंश होने से सदैव विद्यमान है। न आत्मा का जन्म है, और न ही मृत्यु। ईश्वर का यह कथन कितना सारगर्भित है, यह कथन ईश्वर एवं मनुष्य की घनिष्ठता को बतलाता है। मानव सदैव से है और रहेगा, केवल शरीर बदलता रहता है। ईश्वर मानव के निकट ही नहीं है, वस्तुत: उसके अंतर में विराजमान है। ईश्वर ने आपके साथ आपके ‘जीवन’ के रूप में घनिष्ठता तो बना रखी है, परंतु आपने उसके साथ सौतेला व्यवहार भी नहीं रखा है। श्रीकृष्ण ने स्वयं ससीम रूप में, ससीम मानवदेह में, अपने को निम्न श्लोकों में पुनः स्थापित किया है परंतु हम उनकी उपस्थिति को न जानने के कारण स्वीकार ही नहीं करते हैं।

अशास्त्रविहितं घोरं तप्यन्ते ये तपो जनाः।
दम्भाहङ्कारसंयुक्ताः कामरागबलान्विताः॥ ॥गीता 17.5॥
कर्षयन्तः शरीरस्थं भूतग्राममचेतसः।
मां चैवान्तःशरीरस्थं तान् विद्धि आसुरनिश्चयान्॥ (गीता 17.6)

जो शास्त्र विधि रहित घोर तपादि द्वारा अपने को तपाते हैं वे दम्भ (Pride) एवं अहंकार (Egoity) से युक्त होते हैं, उनके कृत्य काम एवं राग से पोषित होते हैं। ऐसे लोग शरीर में स्थित भूत समुदाय (Cell-lives) को अचेत होकर कष्ट पहुंचाते हैं; इतना ही नहीं मानव शरीर में स्थित मुझे भी कष्ट पहुंचाते हैं। ऐसे मनुष्यों को निश्चय पूर्वक असुर जानो।
ईश्वर ने मानव को आनंद के रूप में उतारा (यदि इसका साक्ष्य चाहिये तो एक नवजात शिशु को देखें) आनंद प्राप्त करने के लिये परंतु वह लौकिक चकाचौंध में उलझ कर जगत् से प्राप्त होने वाले वैभव को प्राप्त करने में तन्मयता से लगकर, अपने आनंद को भूल गया और जगत् से नश्वर वस्तुओं को प्राप्त कर उन्मादित एवं गौरवान्वित हुआ दूसरों को नीचा दिखाने की चेष्टा में असुर बन गया। आज असुरों का बोलबाला है क्योंकि पूर्व जन्म में ऐसे कर्म करके आये जिसका उन्हें इस जन्म में भुगतान करना पड़ रहा है, कर्म के अडिग सिद्धांत से कोई बच नहीं सकता। स्पष्ट है कि आपने भगवान् से अपनी दूरी बढ़ा ली जबकि भगवान् लगातार आपको संदेश भेजकर आपको अपने आनंद की ओर आकर्षित करने के लिये आपके इतने निकट आये हैं। मानव ने स्वयं अपनी दुर्गति कर ली है जैसे बंदर के हाथ में उस्तरा दे दें तो वह अपना बदन उससे क्षतिग्रस्त कर लेता है।

श्रीमद् भगवद् गीता कृष्ण (ईश्वर) एवं जीव (मनुष्य) के बीच का संवाद है जिसमें 18 अध्याय के अंत में अर्जुन श्रीकृष्ण को समर्पित होते हैं। अर्जुन में परिवर्तन आने के कारण उनको अपने दोष दिखाई पड़ने लगे थे, वह इन दोषों से मुक्त होना चाहते थे। श्रीकृष्ण ने अर्जुन के अनेक संदेहों का नाश किया तब अर्जुन ने कृष्ण को समर्पित किया। साधारण मानव में जब तक यह चेतना नहीं जागृत होगी कि वह ज्ञान की कमी के कारण अपने दोषों को देख नहीं पा रहा है और जिन दोषों को देख भी पाता है उन्हें लौकिक क्रिया-कलापों में, इन सब की आवश्यकता है, ऐसा मानकर इन दोषों को जीवन पर्यंत संजोकर रखता है, और इसीलिए जीवन-पर्यंत दु:ख का भागीदार होता है। अर्जुन गीता के 18वें अध्याय में नतमस्तक होकर कृष्ण से कहते हैं:

नष्टो मोहः स्मृतिर्लब्धा त्वत्प्रसादान्मयाच्युत।
स्थितोऽस्मि गतसन्देहः करिष्ये वचनं तव॥ (गीता 18.73)

हे कृष्ण! आपके प्रसाद (Grace) से मेरा मोह नष्ट हो गया है, मैंने अपनी स्मृति वापस प्राप्त कर ली है; अब मैं स्थिर मन वाला हो गया हूं और स्थित अर्थात् आत्म-स्थित हो गया हूं जिसके कारण मेरे समस्त संदेहों का नाश हो गया है; अब आप जैसी आज्ञा करें वैसा करूंगा। आप सभी योग साधना में रत लोगों का यही उद्देश्य होना चाहिये — ईश्वर की निकटता प्राप्त करना, आनंद में लीन होना। ***