| Discourses On Gita By Acharya Vinoba Bhave |
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| Discourses On Gita |
| CONTEMPLATION OF THE DIVINE GLORY |
| Such too was the relation between
Krishna and the cows. The ground of Krishna-worship is this imagination.
Look at any picture of Krishna; you will see him surrounded by cows. Gopala
Krishna, Krishna the cowherd! If we take the cow away from Krishna, what is left of Krishna? If from
Rama we remove the monkeys, how much of Rama is there even in Rama? Rama saw the Supreme in
the monkeys too and became their friend and comrade. This is the key
to the Raamaayana.
Without this key you would miss its beauty. The love of father and son, of mother and child, you will find elsewhere too, but this union, this sweet friendship between nara and vanara, between man and monkey, you will find nowhere else. The Lord in the monkey, the Raamaayana has made its own. At sight of the monkeys, the rishis are filled with joy. From Ramtek to the banks of the Krishna these monkeys wandered and played, jumping from branch to branch, without once touching the ground. When the rishis, with their delicate sympathies saw the dense forests and the monkeys at play, poetry welled up in their hearts, they were thrilled. The Upanishads, in describing the eyes of Brahma, compare them to the eyes of a monkey. The monkey's eyes are very restless. They look on all sides at once, the eyes of Brahma should be like this too. It would not do for the Lord to have His eyes fixed. It is all right for you and me to sit in meditation with eyes shut; but if the Lord is lost in meditatiion, what would happen to the world? So rishis see in monkeys the eyes of the Lord who watches all creatures. Learn to see the Lord in monkeys. |
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