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Bhishma

The battlefield reveals the inescapable fruit of past actions. A revered elder, who lived a spotless life, lies pierced by arrows. He questions his suffering, having never harmed others. The divine vision reveals a forgotten past life where he inflicted identical torment upon creatures. The arrows of that ancient hunt have returned to him. We never know which dormant karma will suddenly bear fruit. The seeds of anger and jealousy lie within our own consciousness, awaiting conditions to sprout. Through self-inquiry and the fire of yoga, one can burn these seeds. Master yourself; do not think or speak negatively.

"Lord, can you tell me why I must suffer now?"

"I give you divine eyes. Look at the 104th life."

Filming location: Vép, Hungary

At the end of the Mahābhārata, on the battlefield of Kurukṣetra, the scene was terrible. Countless soldiers from both the Kaurava and Pāṇḍava armies lay dead. The field was frightening, with great birds descending to feed. There were no people left to carry away the bodies. It was a place of danger, fear, pain, and terror. That is war. Suddenly, a great storm arose, destroying trees and crops, blowing the roofs from houses. Then came an earthquake, followed by a flood. Everything looked utterly terrible. There lay the most beloved nephew of Pitāmaha Bhīṣma. Bhīṣma Mahāparatāpan, who wore entirely white clothes. He was very old, with white hair and white dress. In his life, he had never made anyone unhappy. He was always correct, which is why he wore white. Arjuna was his very loving grandchild. Yet, on this battlefield, it was Arjuna who shot Bhīṣma with hundreds of arrows. The arrows pierced his arms, his whole body, and his legs. He fell, but could not reach the ground. His body hung upon the arrows, lying on a bed of shafts. He had a blessing: he would not die unless he wished it. He could not die yet because he wanted to see the dynasty of Hastināpur restored to order. Kṛṣṇa was also present on that battlefield. Now, everyone had left, and Bhīṣma lay alone under the open sky on his bed of arrows, his body suspended. In the night, Kṛṣṇa came to him. Bhīṣma said: "O Kṛṣṇa, O Govinda, O Vāsudeva, Sacchidānanda, I know that you are God. I knew all. But I was bound by my word. I gave my promise. All this suffering I go through is because I promised. I said yes. Do not break your promises. We suffer because we cannot keep our promises, because we promise without overthinking, emotionally. Kṛṣṇa, you know I have never done anything in my life to hurt others. I always followed the dharma—the dharma of a warrior, human dharma. And you know, Kṛṣṇa, I know my one hundred and three past lives, not only this one. All these past lives I can see, 103 lives, were spotless, like this one. I have never done anything to harm others. Lord, can you tell me why I must suffer now?" Kṛṣṇa said: "No doubt, you were very honest. But Bhīṣma, why do you not look into your hundred and fourth life? How does that life look?" Bhīṣma replied: "Lord, I can only see until the hundred and third. I have no capacity to see further." Kṛṣṇa said: "I give you divine chakṣu, divine eyes, now for a few minutes. Look at the 104th life. How does it look?" There, he saw himself as a hunter. He was like a detective. His hobby was to attack creatures, as if they were drunk on drugs. He would shoot arrows into the lives of many animals, many reptiles. He shot his arrow and left them lying there until he found another animal. He hung the reptiles upon the arrows. They suffered. Bhīṣma opened his eyes. "Kṛṣṇa, I know now. I know those arrows are here. They have come to me now. But still, Lord, bless me and liberate me." We never know from which lives, which deeds, which karmas will suddenly come to us, which curse will find us. To become holy and spiritual is not an easy job. And yet, it is very easy. Just be kind. Simply be good. That will help us. And pray every day: "Lord, if there is any śrap, any curse in my life, please free me from it. I have done many bad things in the past, but Lord, give me now śraddhā buddhi, positive intellect. God, I have done a lot of bad things in the past, but now give me positive thoughts." Human ego, human desires, human temptations, human greed, human jealousy, and human anger are very dangerous. So, whatever problem you have, there must be some reason why you are suffering, why you have this problem. You are jealous. There must be something or someone; that is why you are jealous. You are angry. There must be someone or something that happened; that is why you are angry. If that did not happen, do you think you would not be angry? If this had not happened, then something else would have. Whether it happens or not, the seeds are in your consciousness. That is important. It rains and grass grows; the seeds do not rain down with the rain. They were in the womb of Mother Earth, and they grow again. Therefore, self-inquiry meditation lies within your conscious days and clears your inner field, which will help you. And repeat mantra, repeat mantra. Through the fire of yoga, you can burn all the seeds of karma. Then you are no longer bound. Until then, there is a very simple technique I will tell you: do not think negative, and do not speak negative. It is very simple. It does not require any physical exercise. It does not need āsanas and prāṇāyāma. It does not cost money. It does not require time to meditate. You have to do nothing. You have to do nothing. Even to not act negatively and not talk negatively, you have to do nothing. Master yourself, and you will become free from all curses.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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