Arjuna had Krishna’s constant guidance – how can we be guided?

Answer Podcast

Transcription :

Transcriber: Dr Suresh Gupta

Edited by: Sharan Shetty

Question: Arjuna had Krishna’s constant guidance – how can we be guided?

Answer: It is not that Krishna was guiding Arjuna constantly; eventually even Arjun had to act without the guidance of Krishna. When Krishna disappeared from the world it was the biggest crisis for Arjuna and at that time he had to act based on his own intelligence. The Bhagavatam describes that Arjuna was experiencing intense agony but when he remembered the message of Gita, he gained peace. Thus, we see that even for Arjuna, Krishna was not always there but Krishna’s words were there for him.

For all of us even if we do not have a moment to moment guidance, what we can do is first broadly consider those things which are certain and very clear. There will be things which we should do, and things we should not do and in between there might be things about which we feel, “Should I do or not do?” We can show Krishna that we want to be guided when we do things which Krishna wants and avoid the things which Krishna do not want. When we do so, Krishna will surely guide us more and more.

In the intermediate level we may face dilemma about doing a particular service or job. Such questions and choices may keep coming. We should understand that in such case, we cannot always know Krishna’s will. However, if we are doing Krishna’s will where he would want us to do then we will also be guided where we do not know his will. We use our best intelligence and pray to Krishna. If it is a very important decision, then we can consult some senior devotees and use our judgement to move forward.

Krishna’s will is not just one path instead it is a network of paths. That is why, even if we go off-track, we can always come back on track by his mercy. Life neither comes with a guarantee of right decisions. Sometimes we make the right decisions and sometimes we make the decisions right. Making the decision right is like saying, “Okay, it was not the best decision, but what can I do now?”. We do course correction and move onwards.

End of transcription.