Geeta Vahini:The Divine Gospel

Geeta Vahini
(The Divine Gospel)

Baba's Geetha Vahini is the holy Bhagavad Geeta retold in order to save modern man from the myopia of egoistic materialism. It is not a resume or a commentary or an abridgement. It is the voice of Krishna Himself, ringing over the clash of hate and greed and calling us into more worthwhile victories. He has declared that He has come to unify and clarify, fructify and fortify the holy aspirations of man. The doubts and delusions, which torment us while we are engaged in the battle with our outer and inner kith and kin, are treated here with love and sympathy by Sai Krishna, who also provides us with the answers.

We are encouraged in Geetha Vahini to offer Baba the prayer he puts into the heart of Arjuna (in the great epic Mahabharata) – ‘as You are guiding this chariot, guide me also and show me the way’ - for, He is in fact the charioteer installed in everybody. The Geetha, as expounded by Baba, is a textbook of Yoga and a guide for spiritual practise. It is a yoga shastra and Brahma vidya (Knowledge of the Self) rolled into one. Through smile and story, sneer and laughter, banter and reprimand, question and counter-question, Baba pours into us the nectar of wisdom in this beautiful volume.

At Kurukshetra (the battleground in Mahabharata), Krishna said that the mind and its vagaries could be tamed by Abhyasa (discipline) and Vairagya (detachment). In Geetha Vahini, Sai Krishna adds Vichara (discriminative reasoning). Baba also analyses the concept of Kshetra (place), Yagna (sacrifice), Yoga and Maya (illusion) and sheds light on many corners, which the lamps of ancient masters did not illumine. The ideal of Nishkama Karma, (selfless action), gets a glow of heroism when He interprets it as a conscious refusal of the fruits of activity, a courageous turning away from both triumph and failure.

There are many passages on ‘Geetha Vahini’ of self-revelation by Baba, where it becomes difficult to determine who is speaking to us so intimately Krishna or Sai? How can I ever forget Him who never forgets Me? is the question, Baba asks. Forgetting is a human frailty. Let me tell you, there is no need for Yoga, Tapas (penance) or even Jnana (wisdom). I only ask you to fix your mind on me, dedicate it to me. That is all I demand and all that you need to do, says Baba.

This is the promise of Grace, which all devotees can hope to receive. Grace revives us when we are in great pain and restlessness. It revives us when we totter through the great alleys of our meaningless and empty lives. It revives us when our disgust for our own being, our own indifference, our weakness, our hostility and our total lack of direction and composure has become intolerable.

It revives us when year after year, the longed-for perfection does not appear, when the stale compulsions reign within us as they have done for decades, and when despair destroys all joy and courage. Sometimes, at that moment, a wave of light breaks into our darkness, saying, You are accepted.
Geetha Vahini also condemns fanatic, blinkered gurus and pompous exponents of the Geetha whose oratory sounds hollow because they do not themselves practice what the Geetha preaches. 

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