The madman was dancing while saying, ‘Rama, Rama, A terrible war, a terrible war, Rama, Rama.’ Haladhar came and said,
‘O mad baba, what is up?’
Madman : Rama, Rama. A terrible war! Rama, Rama.
Halada : Where is the war?
Madman : Can’t you see that a terrible war is going on? There are only unsuitable practices and unbridled eating and
enjoyment! All are running after pleasure. Rama, Rama! All is lost! All is lost! If you want to live, come running,
board that battleship, otherwise, there is no escape. You will have to go round and round as different creatures. Rama,
Rama. Pleasure is the bait on a fish-hook! As soon as you swallow it, you are caught. Rama, Rama. Come away, come away.
Rama, Rama. Board, board the battleship. Jai Sitaram.
Halada : Mad father, where is your battleship?
Madman : O Rama, Rama! Don’t you see that God is calling us with two battleships? One is the Bhagavadgita and the other
is the Uddhavagita? On board! On board! Come on board, quickly. There listen, He is saying, ‘Whoever it is. However
great a sinner you may be; there is no fear! Pray to God and your sins and sufferings will end. You will be completely
purified.’ Listen, listen. He is calling, ‘I will save you.’ O Arjuna, go beat your drums, go to the meetings of the
debaters and in a loud voice and with uplifted hands say, ‘My devotee is never destroyed.’
Give up all religion and irreligion and come only to me for shelter. I will give you emancipation. On board! On board!
Quickly board the battleship. Make the Gita your shelter. God is pleased with him who makes the Gita his refuge and
reads the whole, a half, one fourth, even a single shloka, every day. Make the Gita your refuge and the Gita will take
you across the ocean of the world. Jai Rama, Sitaram.
Halada : Mad father. You have changed your opinion. You say that everything can be achieved simply by chanting the name
of Rama. Now, you are speaking of reading the Gita!
Madman : Rama, Rama. Can you forever chant only ‘Rama Rama’? Sitaram.
Halada : No, I cannot do so.
Madman : That is why, Sitaram, I am asking you to make the Gita your refuge. Board the boat of the Gita and happily go
across. If you can chant the name of Rama incessantly, and even a single breath does not go to waste, you will not have
to do anything else. Rama, Rama, Sitaram, Jai Jai Rama, Sitaram.
Halada : When did God give the teaching of the Uddhava Gita to Uddhava?
Madman : Rama, Rama, Sitaram. At the time of His departure, seeing the state of things in Dwaraka, He sent the people of
Yadu clan to Prabhasa and sat alone in an isolated place. That is when Uddhava came there. The nectar that He gave to
Uddhava is incomparable. This is His last teaching.
After receiving the Gita, Arjuna had said, ‘My illusion is destroyed and I will follow your orders.’ Then he fought and
won the war and the kingdom of virtue was established. Arjuna got ensnared in the illusion of the world and forgot the
teachings of Gita. God again preached him the Gita. That Gita is called the Anugita. Following God’s departure to his
abode, Arjuna became extremely grief-stricken. However, due to teachings of Gita, he attained detachment.
Uddhava was fulfilled on receiving the Uddhavagita. He performed penance and reached the heavenly abode. Rama, Rama,
Sitaram.
Halada : What is contained in the Uddhavagita?
Madman : God said to Uddhava, ‘On reading the Uddhavagita, nothing remains unknown.’ God has spoken of a very easy way
of gaining the knowledge of Brahma in the Uddhavagita.
‘Ignoring the ridicule of your kith and kin, sense of high and low and any shame on account of that, prostrate before
all creatures and beings. By this you will have the knowledge of Brahma. Do this in thought, word and action, till you
perceive me in all beings.’ As you go on bowing in this way, everything becomes one with Brahma. After that, with the
knowledge of omnipresence of God, the devotee becomes free of doubt and becomes detached from all objects.’ Rama, Rama,
Sitaram, Jai Jai Rama, Sitaram.
Halada : Then, is bowing a Sadhana?
Madman : There is no Sadhana comparable to bowing. In the end, God said to Arjuna, ‘Bow down to me.’ Here He asked
Arjuna only to bow.
He says in the Uddhavagita, ‘Looking upon all creatures in thought, word and deed as mine own or as God is better than
all other ways.’
In the end, He said to Uddhava, ‘As no inclination to have any other drink remains after the drinking the delicious
nectar, so the seeker of knowledge has nothing left to know after he knows the doctrine of the Gita.’ Rama, Rama,
Sitaram, Sitaram. A terrible war it is! On board! On board! Board the battleship!
Home
Home
Previous Article