Shri Virata Puja. Cabella (Italy), 5 September 1999. Tonight, we are going to worship Shri Krishna as Virata. First, it is important to understand the incarnation of Shri Krishna. The word ‘Krishna’ comes from the word ‘Krishi’ – ‘Krishi’ means ‘agriculture’. He sowed the seeds of spirituality. And for that, first of all He had to think: “Where are we, as far as spirituality is concerned? How is the land?” So, what had happened at the time of Shri Rama is that he had created lots of maryadas. And by these maryadas people started mentally thinking about it: “I am not supposed to do that, I am not supposed to do this” – it was just a mental binding; it was not spontaneous, it was not ‘sahaj’. As a result, people became extremely serious. They wouldn’t talk much, they wouldn’t laugh, and they wouldn’t enjoy anything. So, Shri Krishna decided that first of all he must remove them from this conditioning. And this conditioning had to be removed in such a manner that they enjoy themselves. Then he found out that there were three suggestions as far as achieving the goal was concerned. So, first one, as he says, is to become a Realised Soul – Stita Pragnya – to go beyond all temptations, to go beyond all ego, to go beyond all kinds of conditioning, and to become a Stita Pragnya. Stita Pragnya is where he doesn’t feel like ordinary people, attracted towards things, but he is absolutely detached. Read More …