Everybody has the capacity to do this

Karma Yoga

Chapter 3, Verses 31-32

 

ye me matam idaṁ nityam 

anu-tiṣṭhanti mānavāḥ 

śraddhāvanto’nasūyanto 

mucyante te’pi karmabhiḥ

 

ye tvetad abhyasūyanto 

nānutiṣṭhanti me matam 

sarva jñāna vimūḍhāṁstān 

viddhi naṣṭān acetasaḥ

 

Those who, having faith and not trusting to the critical intelligence, constantly follow this teaching of Mine, they too are released from the bondage of works. But those who find fault with My teaching and act not upon them, are of an unripe mind, bewildered in all knowledge and fated to be destroyed.

 

“Those who, having faith and not trusting to the critical intelligence, constantly follow this teaching of Mine, they too are released from the bondage of works.” Here Krishna says that all people are qualified to pursue what He is teaching. He is talking not only to Arjuna. He is talking to the whole world. He says, “Everybody has the capacity to do this! Those who, having faith and not trusting to the critical mind, people who are away from the doubting mind which is always in the duality, these people who try to follow this teaching of Mine, they too are released from the bondage of works.”

 

This is so nice here. Lord Krishna says that you just need to have faith and trust in Him and try to follow what He says. He is not imposing. He just says, “Try it!” He is talking to whoever believes in His word. Whoever trusts and tries to put into practice in their life what He is teaching, whoever tries to awaken this Love inside themselves and love as He loves the world, they will be released from the bondage, from the effect of the three gunas. They will be free from the cycle of birth and death. He is giving His assurance to everybody, to the people of all nationalities, creeds, colours, and castes. He is giving His assurance saying, “If you try to follow what I say, you will be free! You’ll attain supreme bliss! If you surrender all your actions to Me, it doesn’t matter what you do, you’ll be transformed. And I assure you that if this is done, if you are practising your sadhana or if you are not practising your sadhana, you’ll attain salvation!” If you surrender every action to Him.

 

“But those who find fault with My teaching and act not upon them, are of an unripe mind, bewildered in all knowledge and fated to be destroyed.” Here Krishna says, “These people are not destroyed, they are lost! People who are deluded by the outside, who think that what I am teaching you is not possible to attain and make fun of it, they are completely lost.” The Bible says that if you criticise God, you’ll be forgiven. If you criticise the Son, you’ll be forgiven! But if you criticise the Spirit, you will not be forgiven. Here Krishna was saying a similar thing: “If you start criticising what I am giving you, you will call a curse upon yourself, because this teaching is coming out from the deep Spirit of God Himself. The unwise, without any respect, without love, will damn themselves. They will be completely lost. They will be born in a lower species. They will even go to Hell for a certain time.” Krishna says that if you don’t understand something, you don’t have the right to criticise it. 

Everybody is criticising and judging each other in the world nowadays. Each one claims that he is the best, and says, “There is no one better than me!” They are trying to fight each other. These are very animalistic qualities. When Krishna says, “My teaching,” he doesn’t only mean what He was teaching in the Bhagavad Gita. He is talking about the teaching of the Self which is present everywhere in the world. He says, “If you don’t understand something, don’t criticise it! By criticising it, you are bringing a curse upon yourself and you are lost.”

Bhagavad Gita