The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita - 11.5. Swami Krishnananda.

 


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Saturday, July 03, 2021. 9:11. PM. 
Chapter 11: The Yoga of Meditation - 5.
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Now, the fulfilment of desires need not mean indulgence in satisfactions, though some of the desires have to be satisfied in that manner when it is necessary to adopt that method. But, otherwise, they are to be absorbed and melted away by other techniques which are followed in Yoga. All this is a subject one cannot read in books. They are secrets and esoteric approaches, and connected with the idiosyncrasy of the particular individual concerned.

Thus, the preparation for Yoga is, perhaps, going to take more time than the actual concentration of the mind on the chosen object. It is no use suddenly saying, “I will go for meditation.” The point is not that. What is important is: are we ready for it? Is it possible for the mind to accept it completely, or are we suppressing certain needs and demands of the mind brushing them aside in the subconscious, giving them a ‘no’, when they ask? If that is the case, we have to be thrice cautious in our approach. When we succeed in understanding ourselves and the nature of our desires, fulfilled or otherwise, the mind will stand unflickering like a flame placed in an atmosphere where there is no breeze of any kind. There is no flickering.

Such an attitude, such a mood, is hard for most of us. The Bhagavadgita here tells us that we shall feel such a joy, such a satisfaction, such a delight when the mind is wholly absorbed in this manner, that even the worst sorrow of our life will not be able to shake our minds. There is no sorrow at all for us at that time. Everything will look beautiful, and we will be able to adjust ourselves with every blessed thing in life. We, at that time, become friends of all, and all become our friends. We get severed from the sources of all pain and we stand independent in a unique sense, in a superb expandedness of being, where the cause of sorrow which is the ego is overcome to the maximum extent.

But it is doubtful if everyone will be able to achieve the goal of life in one life, because of the various difficulties and weaknesses which are part and parcel of bodily existences here. Can anyone be sure that the goal of Yoga, the purpose of life, can be realised in one existence, physically? A doubt occurs to the mind: ‘Is it possible, or, perhaps, it is not for me?’ Arjuna put the question to the great Teacher.

To be continued ....


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