Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that he should seek gnana at the feet of learned men. He must approach them humbly. He must not ask them questions with a view to testing their knowledge, or ask them questions, just for the sake of argument. If he were to seek gnana in this spirit of humility, Acharyas are sure to instruct him, says Krishna. Gnana will serve as the boat to help him cross the ocean of samsara and to attain moksha. Just as fire burns down wood, gnana burns down all of one’s karmas.
In the one who has acquired gnana there is no room for unhappiness, or doubt, said Velukkudi Krishnan, in a discourse. He knows that the Lord will save him. The Lord cuts down our sins with a sword called ‘mercy.’
When Lord Krishna was given chase, for having stolen butter, He hid in the house of Dadipandan. Dadipandan hid Him in a pot. Dadipandan then told Yasoda, that he had not seen Krishna. After Yasoda left, Dadipandan said he would let Krishna out of the pot, only if He promised moksha to Dadipandan. The Lord promised, but now Dadipandan laid down yet another condition. He said that the Lord would have to promise moksha to the pot which had sheltered Him! The Lord promised that too. Thus the Lord gave moksha to a pot. Is there then any reason why He will not give us moksha, if we surrender to Him?
The Lord offers us invaluable advice through the Gita, and the Gita in turn has the Upanishads as its foundation. An interesting analogy is to compare the Upanishads to cows, Arjuna to a calf, Krishna to the one who milks the cows. The milk that is obtained is the Bhagavad Gita. ‘Upa’ means ‘near.’ The Upanishads take us near God. The Gita too, with its fund of advice, takes us closer to the Supreme One.
