The Teachings of the Bhagavadgita : 6-2 - Swami Krishnananda.

Chinmaya Mission ;

The annual Balavihar camp took place from April 23rd to April 29th, 2023, at Chinmaya Sandeepany in Chokkahalli, Bengaluru. Under the divine presence of Omkareshwara and the 45 ft Ganesha statue, nearly 100 children participated in the camp. Titled "5G Network for Life," the camp focused on the 5 G's: Geeta, Govinda, Guru, Gyan, and Grace! The Camp Acharyas included Swami Gahanananda,  Swami Dattapadananda, and Swami Krutatmananda.

The children were divided into 8 groups named after famous Rishis. The camp featured sessions on Vedic Chanting, theme talks, workshops, Stotrams & Bhajans, stories, games, and even talks by the children themselves. Workshops played a crucial role in reinforcing the concepts, where the children showcased their understanding through various activities. They were also given creative and challenging worksheets based on the book "Game of Life."

The camp song, "5G Network for Life - the very best network for life," became a hit and was sung during the late evening sessions. The workshop organized by the Chinmaya Yuvakendra allowed the children to bond with the seniors while enjoying outdoor activities.

The Kaituttu dinner, served with love by the sevaks, and the late evening strolls around the Ganesha statue were among the highlights of the camp. On the final day, a live quiz based on the camp's teachings impressed everyone with the children's depth of understanding. The camp concluded with Paduka Pooja, leaving lasting memories for all involved.

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Monday,  22 May, 2023. 07:00.

Chapter 6: Self-Restraint and the Nature of the Self-2.

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I try to continue the thread from where I left yesterday concerning the relationship between the lower self and the higher self, to which a reference will been made in the fifth and the sixth chapters particularly. The essence of yoga practice may be said to be summed up in two verses towards the end of the fifth chapter, to be detailed further on in the sixth, and these two slogas are concise and pithy : 

"sparshan kritva bahir bahyansh chakshush chaivantare bhruvoh

pranapanau samau kritva nasabhyantara-charinau

yatendriya-mano-buddhir munir moksha-parayanah

vigatechchha-bhaya-ye hi sansparsha-ja bhoga duhkha-yonaya eva te

adyantavantahkrodho yah sada mukta eva sah."

(Gita 5.27-28). 

BG 5.27-28: Shutting out all thoughts of external enjoyment, with the gaze fixed on the space between the eye-brows, equalizing the flow of the incoming and outgoing breath in the nostrils, and thus controlling the senses, mind, and intellect, the sage who becomes free from desire and fear, always lives in freedom.

These two Slogas sow the seed for the elaboration in the sixth chapter on dhyana yoga or meditation – the integration of personality.

The senses are to be withdrawn from their contact with the objects. The objects are to be shut-out from their relationship with the senses: sparśān kṛtvā bahir bāhyāṁ. Here, there is something interesting for us to know. The necessity to sever sensory contact with external objects arises on account of a basic error involved in this contact. All contacts are wombs of pain, says the Gita in another place: 

ye hi sansparsha-ja bhoga duhkha-yonaya eva te

adyantavantah kaunteya na teshu ramate budhah

(Gita 5.22). 

BG 5.22: The pleasures that arise from contact with the sense objects, though appearing as enjoyable to worldly-minded people, are verily a source of misery. O son of Kunti, such pleasures have a beginning and an end, so the wise do not delight in them.

The desire of the mind to come in contact with objects through the senses arises on account of the mistaken notion that pleasure rises from the objects. As milk is oozed out from the udder of the cow, it appears that objects ooze out satisfaction, joy – nectar seems to be milked-out of the objects by the senses through their contact. This is a gross mistake; there is no such thing taking place. The joys of life arise on account of a circumstance quite different from what we imagine in our minds, out of point altogether from the connection of the senses with physical objects.

Firstly, a real contact with objects is not possible, due to the operation of a differentiating factor which cuts off the subjects from the objects – space and time. This screen, which is hanging in front of our eyes, space-time as you call it, prevents a real communion of the subject with the object; and all contact is finally a desire for such a communion which is never attained. Thus the desire is never fulfilled, finally, because the contact, which is the objective behind the manifestation of a desire, is never really attained. There is only a tantalising phenomenon taking place, misleading the mind and completely defeating the senses of their purpose. The objects repel the senses because of the impossibility of coming in contact with the objects.

The desire for an object, as I mentioned, is a desire for union with the object, possession of the object, enjoyment of the object – by an entry into it, if it were possible, and the bringing the object so close to one's self that the distinction between one's self and the object is abolished in a space-transcending experience; but this is not possible in this world of space and time. We can never really come in contact with anything in this world; we cannot possess anything in this world because of this difficulty. The externality principle which is space-time, or you may call it by any other name – is so vehemently active that it will not permit the coming in contact of one thing with another in the manner of a communion or an entry of one thing into another. 'A' can never become 'B'. 'A' is 'A', 'B' is 'B', subject is subject, and object is object. Thus everyone gets defeated in this world, and no one goes from here with the satisfaction that the objectives of life craved for have been really fulfilled or attained. This is one of the reasons why the desire for contact with objects of senses is futile, finally. 

Parinama tapa samskara (Y.S. 2.15) are some of the points mentioned in a sutra of Patanjali as factors which should dissuade anyone from enshrining in one's heart an inordinate longing for anything in this world. The consequence of the fulfilment of a desire is an increase of the desire, and not a fulfilment of the desire. Desire flames up like raging fire which is fed with clarified butter when it is attempted to be fulfilled, and desire is never extinguished by its being fed with the fuel of sense objects. The reason is that every enjoyment, every sensory contact effecting this imagined satisfaction, acts as a medium to confirm this error – that joy arises from the objects. There is a reinforcement of the error – that joy is embedded in the objects – so one goes more and more towards the objects, and does not learn a lesson that a mistake had been involved in this craving of the senses for objects. Thus the consequence of the fulfilment of a desire is an increased impetuosity of the desire, not the fulfilment. A desire is never fulfilled; it only gets increased.

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To be continued

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