The Illusion has to be Destroyed

Egoism is the most dangerous illusion that has to be exploded and destroyed. Even Arjuna had it! One day, after the battle when Krishna brought the chariot back to camp, he wanted that like all charioteers, Krishna should get down first! The Master must get down later, after the charioteer opened the door for him, isn’t it? Krishna refused, and insisted that Arjuna should alight before He Himself did. At last, Krishna won. Arjuna got down and then as soon as Krishna left His seat and touched the ground, the chariot went up in flames! If only Krishna had got down first! The fact was that the various fiery arrows that had the power of burning the chariot had hit the target, but due to the presence of Krishna, their powers could not manifest themselves. Seeing this Arjuna was humbled; his egoism received a rude shock. He realised that every action of the Lord was full of significance.

The purpose of listening to Baba’s words is to think it over to be able to absorb. We can think we listen and we don’t listen, we just read it. How do we know the difference between listening and just reading it?

Egoism is the most dangerous illusion that has to be exploded and destroyed.

We remember our own ego and why it is illusion and maybe we don’t know it yet really and think that we will know hopefully in future. If that feeling is present, we project it into the future instead of listening now and ‘past and future’ are in the mind, present is Atman, knowing that we should stay in the present and not think we will understand it sometime in the future. Or we feel we are not sure what he means with egotism and why it is the most dangerous illusion and why and how it has to be exploded and destroyed?

Is exploded the right translation, would it not make more sense if we translate it explored, understood and destroyed? Or does it have to do with the picture in that story and Baba tells exploded because the chariot explodes afterwards?

Even Arjuna had it! One day, after the battle when Krishna brought the chariot back to camp, he wanted that like all charioteers, Krishna should get down first! The Master must get down later, after the charioteer opened the door for him, isn’t it?

It is a story from the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna and Arjuna, that much we know. It is not at the beginning of the battle, but after the battle and Krishna is the charioteer, he is driving the chariot for Arjuna. Arjuna is the master of the chariot and sitting in the back, Krishna is the driver and usually all the charioteers get down first. The master must get down later and often the charioteer is opening the door for him. It is like having a chauffeur, he is driving the car and if the master is a VIP, he will also get out of the car and hold up the door for his master to get out of the car, right?

Krishna refused, and insisted that Arjuna should alight before He Himself did. At last, Krishna won. Arjuna got down and then as soon as Krishna left His seat and touched the ground, the chariot went up in flames! If only Krishna had got down first! The fact was that the various fiery arrows that had the power of burning the chariot had hit the target, but due to the presence of Krishna, their powers could not manifest themselves. Seeing this Arjuna was humbled; his egoism received a rude shock. He realised that every action of the Lord was full of significance.

But Krishna is no ordinary charioteer and like Swami, so he refused and he insisted that Arjuna alight before he himself did. So Arjuna gave in and Krishna won, Arjuna got down and Krishna left only afterwards his seat and as soon as he touched the ground with his feet, the chariot went up in flames.

As Krishna is no ordinary charioteer he knew that and if he would had got down first, Arjuna would have been hurt. Baba explains that fiery arrows had hit the target and had the power of burning the chariot, but due to his presence, it didn’t happen, but as soon as he left the chariot, the power of the weapon could explode and put the chariot in fire and Arjuna would have been trapped inside.

Seeing this Arjuna was humbled; his egoism received a rude shock. He realised that every action of the Lord was full of significance.

We could imagine driving in a limousine with Swami as chauffeur and there is a bomb which we don’t know, but he knows and he knows as soon as he will leave the car, the whole thing will explode and for anybody who is in it every help will come too late and they will die in the blasting fire. So instead of getting out and holding up the door, he remains seated and insists that the master gets out first and the master is not that happy first, because every other charioteer goes out first and helps his master to get out of the car, that is the habit, that is custom, that is the rule, that is the job and even the charioteers duty.

But after all he gives in and gets our first and afterwards the chauffeur and as soon as he put the feet on the ground, there is an explosion and the chariot is in fire.

That is a shock, because he didn’t know and he would have gone out last and not first, he would be dead now.

He realised that every action of the Lord was full of significance.

If every action of the Lord is full of significance, we have to find out why. We are like Arjuna and we think we know, but if we would know it would be actually much easier. After the chariot was in fire it was for Arjuna clear that he didn’t know and he would have been harmed if he would not have listened to Krishna. He had to accept truth that he didn’t know and he had to accept right action that he had to get out of the chariot first to be okay, but the main issue behind is that he didn’t know and Krishna new.
The divine power was holding down the destruction power of the arrows.

The story is about devotion and that is pure love, we can only get the experience of 'pure love' if we understand peace first, it means we have to be aware who Krishna is and not argue with him, but go by it, he knows we don't know, in his words is truth, we have to listen to him, not to our own words, that is accepting truth. We have to accept truth and if we accept the path of truth, we know that we don't know and we have to listen to him, because he knows, we listen to his words, think it over and absorb, that is right action.
There is first no argumentation, he is the knower, we have to accept truth, we have to accept right action and we have to understand peace.
If we have those three things, truth, right action and peace, we can get the experience of 'pure love'.

So he didn’t know why Krishna told him to get out first. It is the same with listening to Baba's words, when we begin to listen we don't know why, but he knows and because he is the knower, that is truth we have to accept, we accept the right action and go for it, we practice and we do it and afterwards when it is done we understand it.
Afterwards we get the insight that it is for our best only and that we can realize the higher self or our own self only if we listen to him ... and the first move seems to be always that we want to listen to our own self only as it is about self-realization, but we don't know, he knows and we have to accept that truth and refer to right action.

It is a difference in our action if we know that he knows and we listen to him to get the right insight first and we care that it is for sure right action or we think we know what is not true and therefore also our action is not right but wrong action.

Arjuna had to do it first to be able to realize that there had been a very special reason and that it was for his own good and not to humiliate him in front of all others, as it was custom for the charioteer to go down first and hold up the door for his master.

The ego was the expectation that he was going down first and was holding him the door to get out of the car.
The ego was based on the different role they had in society. Krishna was no ordinary charioteer, but he had the role of the charioteer and it is the duty of every job that it has to be done right and if he took that role, he also has to hold up the door for his master.

That is how we have to accept truth that we don’t know and if we think we know and it is not true, we have to accept truth that our mind is in delusion, this is the fault within.
To be able to get aware of the delusion in the mind, we have to go beyond the body mind first.
If we are in the awareness of  ‘you and I’, we cannot go beyond it, both levels are identified with the body, ‘it has to be first about ‘we’ to be able to get beyond it. ‘You and I are we’.

We had to accept truth that it is not possible on the level of ‘you and I’, but only on the level of ‘we’. And the second step is, ‘we and he is I’, we (two people engaged) have to listen to him, his words, his thought for the day, his insights and by doing that and thinking it over we get to ‘I’, that is the universal ‘I’. The identification with the body complex is gone and instead we realize the identification with the Atma.

Thus to be able to get aware of the ego identification with the body, we have to be aware that ‘you and I are we’, it has to be always ‘we’ first.
If we don’t listen, we stay in the ego and in the mind.
We need to be on a level of ‘we’ and not ‘you and I’, we and He, the divine principle we find in his words, in holy Bhajans, in Sadhana, in mediation, in contemplation and in all the actions he mentioned yesterday and that is how we can get the insight ‘I am I’ or he can be present as the man in our dream and tell us, ‘I am the one’.
It is in the dream stage and that dream stage is always self-contained. We know that if he tells in our dream, ‘I am that one’, that there is only ‘one’ and it is the same one in me as it is in you, it is self-contained.

You are that, I am that. ‘I am the One’. The dream stage is self contained and therefore, if he tells in your dream, ‘I am the One’, it is the same for both of us, there is no difference.