Your Plan or His Plan? – by Shrila Bhakti Swarup Tirtha Maharaj
Everybody plans. But all plans always do not succeed;
no matter how cleverly and calculatedly they are devised,
or how efficiently they are executed in personal or public life.
One wonders why such clever plans fail so miserably.
What is the most important factor for their success?
Whose plans never fail?
Shrila B.S. Tirtha Maharaj
Everybody plans these days. Right from the super-rich, the middle class and even the poor plan their lives ahead. They plan their finances, homes, children, their education and finally, retirement. Planning is essential for business and industrial enterprises.
These commercial organisations plan their production, marketing, distribution and expansion. All governments plan for the future. Five-year plans and seven-year-plans are normal to project goals to be achieved.
Planning indicates that a person, a business entity or a government is well organized. Proper planning shows thinking ahead with intelligence. Suitable planning assures at least fifty percent success of any activity, it is claimed. To control the burgeoning growth of population, family-planning was introduced as an effective solution. Planning is invoked not only for serious activities, but also for leisure and entertainment. It’s normal for people to ask, “What are your plans for the coming long week-end?”
The final year school students also have plans up their sleeves for their careers. Travel agents usually advertise attractive Holiday Plans. Both criminals and lawyers plan. Gangsters and Godmen also plan. Murderers and vagrants too plan. Terrorists and armed forces also resort to serious planning. Thus, planning has come to stay as the most crucial of all human activities. But nobody can match the meticulousness and ambition in planning by large commercial organizations.
Their top executives have a clear vision. Their mindset is conditioned for two types of planning, the long term and short term. The short term planning involves clever manipulation of all activities to present a bright looking company balance sheet in any given year.
Long-term planning, on the contrary, entails various strategies for surviving in the trade/industry against tough competition in the future. It can be also a device for profitable lines of diversification. Therefore, top experts are hired at high salaries for this job. However, it is an unquestionable fact from time immemorial that all plans always do not succeed; no matter how cleverly and calculatedly they are devised, or how efficiently they are executed in personal or public life. One wonders why such clever plans fail so miserably.
The answer lies in an old adage: ‘Man proposes God disposes’. All planners, however intelligent they may be, forget this important point while planning. They base their planning on the strength of their intellectual power, experience, expertise, finance and empiric endeavour. They don’t even pause to consider the possible role of God which is vital in planning to achieve success in any activity.
In this connection, the Supreme Lord Krishna informs Arjuna in the Gita (18/13):
Panchaitani maha-baho
Karanani nibodha me
Sankhye kritante proktani
Siddhaye sarva-karmnam
O Mighty-armed Arjuna, according to the Vedanta,there are five causes for the accomplishment of all actions. Now learn of these from Me.
The Lord explains in detail the five factors that go into every action in the Gita (18/14 and 18/15):
Adhishthanam tatha karta
Karanam cha prithag-vidham
Vividhas cha prithak cheshta
Daivam chaivatra panchamam
Sharira-van manobhir yat
Karma prarabhate narah
Nyayyam va viparitam va
Panchaite tasya hetavah
The seat of action (the body), the performer of action, the senses, different types of endeavours and God are the five causes of legitimate or illegitimate actions performed by a living being in body, speech or mind.
By saying daivam cha, the Lord emphasizes and underscores the role played by Him as the most important factor for successful accomplishment of any action. The most important of the five elements of actions mentioned in determining the results is God. In other words, God’s influence is the ultimate factor in any action. There is a famous saying: ‘Not even a blade of grass moves without the will of God’.
In today’s atheistic society, hardly anyone is prepared to even acknowledge the existence of God – leave alone recognizing His supremacy. Lord Krishna Himself adequately describes the behaviour and the mindset of atheistic planners in the Gita (16/13-14):
They think: So much wealth do I have to-day and I shall gain more according to my schemes later. So much belongs to me now, my wealth and property will increase more in future. I have killed this enemy who was an impediment in my way and I will eliminate others too. I am the Lord. I am the enjoyer. I am fully accomplished. I am right now most powerful and influential. I am the happiest.
Such fools imagine that they are the richest persons in the world and come from a very renowned lineage. They become so intoxicated with their opulence that they even genuinely feel that there is no one else with a similar status. Very successful sportspersons or very famous film stars receive so much adulation that they think they have become Gods.
Sometimes, a popular politician becomes so power-drunk that he thinks he can get away with anything he does. Thus, entrenched in opulence, power, false prestige, arrogance, lust and anger, these self-conceited atheists become envious of God. Srimad Bhagavatam (10-51-49) warns them.
pratmattam ucchair itikritya-chintaya
pravriddha-lobham vishayeshu lalasam
tvam apramattah sahasabhipadyase
kshul-lelihano ‘hir ivakhum antakah
A man obsessed with thoughts of what he thinks needs to be done, intensely greedy, and delighting in sense enjoyment is suddenly confronted by You, who are ever alert. Like a hungry snake licking its fangs before a mouse, You appear before him as death.
Iti-kritya-chintaya means planning, ‘I’ll do like this. I will organize like this. I shall sell off this property and I will buy a larger one.’ Why do they plan? Pravriddha lobham means excessive greed. People are not happy with what they have. They desire more and more. The more money they earn, the more insecure they become. They don’t realize this.
Desire is always insatiable. Nobody can ever be fully satisfied. Why are they so greedy? The answer is – vishayeshu lalasam, avariciousness for variety of sense enjoyment; wining, dining and womanising. The whole world is revolving around two main functions, eating and mating, which are incidentally, the only goal of life for stool eating pigs.
Therefore, this verse describes them as pramatta. In the Sanskrit language, matta means ignorant, unmatta means intoxicated and pramatta means insane. These insane or mad planners are so drunk with their power and egos that they forget that death can suddenly strike a blow any time and finish their planning.
For all planners, theistic or atheistic, death will put a full stop to all their plans. The difference lies in this: for the atheists, God appears to them in the fearful form of death while the devotees see God at the time of death. The devotees execute plans according to God’s instructions. On the contrary, the atheists carry out their own plans.
Millions of years ago, atheistic demons like Ravana and Hiranyakashipu had their own ambitious plans. God Rama and Narasimhadeva, respectively, appeared before them as death. In modern history, their miniature versions are Hitler and Stalin who enthusiastically pursued their plans but death shattered their schemes. Hence, the atheistic planners in this verse are referred to as mad, pramatta.
But God is apramatta, which means alert. Krishna, the Supreme Lord of gods, is ever vigilant, situated inside the heart as Paramatma or Supersoul; He monitors, observes, guides and ultimately accords approval for all actions performed by the living beings of the world. He is, therefore, apramatta-always alert.
Lord Krishna is the original Vishnu. Vishnu means all pervasive. There is no place or object where or in which He is not present. Nothing can escape His attention.
His devotees are aware of this fact. Therefore, they keep Lord Krishna as the centre of all activities. In fact, the fully surrendered devotees perform all their actions purely to satisfy the Lord. That is why when a devotee is sometimes caught in the horns of a dilemma, he decides to act in a way which pleases the Lord, not anyone else, including himself. At the end of Dvapara Yuga, Lord Krishna descended on this planet to get rid of the demonic kings and ease the earth their burden.
Right from birth, the Lord systematically executed His plan, ultimately culminating in the fratricidal war at Kurukshetra. Our plans are generally based on our narrow interest with intent on our personal gain. Our own satisfaction is the basis of our plan. In Arjuna’s case, his plan to quit the battlefield, although on compassionate grounds, is due to superficial understanding of the situation that faced him. Just before the beginning of the war, Arjuna, the Pandava hero of the Mahabharata, suddenly developed cold feet and was hesitant to fight.
He told the Supreme Lord Krishna, who kindly agreed to be the driver of his chariot, that he would rather live a life of a mendicant than fight the battle. The Lord understood the reason for his sudden turnaround. The Lord enlightened him through the famous discourses of the Bhagavad Gita. Concluding the sermon, Lord Krishna, revealing His democratic mindset, said (18/63):
iti te jnanam akhyatam
guhyad guhyataram maya
vimrishyaitad asheshena
yathecchasi tatha kuru
Thus, I have explained to you knowledge still more confidential. Deliberate on this fully, and then do
what you wish to do.
Overcome by affection towards Arjuna, His friend and devotee, Lord Krishna gave him the most confidential instruction to do His bidding in the Gita (18/66):
Sarva-dharman parityajya
Mam ekam sharanam vraja
Aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
Mokshayishyami ma shuchah
Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.
To further ascertain the decision Arjuna is likely to take, the Lord asked him this at the end of His talk in Bhagavad Gita (18/72):
Kacchid etac chrutam partha
Tvayaikagrena chetasa
Kacchid ajnana-sammohah
Pranastas te dhananjaya
O Son of Pritha, O Conqueror of Wealth, have you heard this with an attentive mind? And is your ignorance and illusion now dispelled?
The Lord wanted to assess the impact of His teaching on Arjuna and how much it has influenced his thinking. He wanted to know the effect of the transcendental knowledge that He had imparted to him and how much it had helped him in decision making. In plain language, the Lord asked Arjuna, “Your plan or My plan?” As a faithful friend and a loving devotee, Arjuna’s answer is articulated in the Bhagavad Gita (18/73):
nashto mohah smritir labdha
tvat-prasadan mayachyuta
sthito ‘smi gata-sandehah
karishye vachanam tava
My dear Krishna, O Infallible One, my illusion is now gone. I have regained my memory by Your mercy; I am now firm and free from doubt and am prepared to act according to Your instructions
Arjuna said, “Karishye vachanam tava-I shall implement your plan.” Lord Krishna is also called Achyuta. Chyuta means failure or fallen and achyuta means infallible. Yes, the Supreme Lord Krishna’s plan never fails. Therefore, it is safer to execute the Lord’s plan. It is the duty of every living being because the jivatma’s position in relation to Paramatma is one of subordination. The world can live happily by following the plan of Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.