The Three Types of Discipline of the Bhagavadgita : 2. Swami Krishnananda

07/03/2019
(Spoken on September 18th, 1974.)

2.
As I mentioned, the first six chapters deal with personal discipline. They deal with the individual, the person, the human being as such, how a human being can be integrated psychologically, morally and intellectually. The human personality is not exhausted merely by the physical body. You or I as an individual person does not mean merely this physical vesture that is visible before the eyes. The personality of a human being is more than the physical body.

Your character, for example, is the determining factor of much of the success that you are expected to achieve in the world. Your character is not merely the demeanor of the physical body; it is an internal manoeuvre of your mental makeup or status of consciousness. The way of thinking, the inner conduct of the psychological organ, and the capacity of your reasoning faculty to comprehend things all combine to constitute your personality.

Now, what is the human personality, which is supposed to be disciplined, and by which we mean self-discipline? The physical body is only an outer vehicle of a power that is working within the physical body. The body is only a vehicle; it has to be driven by a motive force which is other than the body, and this motive force is intelligent enough. There are the vital organs, the sensory powers, the thinking principal, the volitional faculty, the intellectual endowment, and the moral conscience.

All these are present in us not as isolated ingredients thrown together in an unconnected manner, but in a beautiful blend. The faculties that constitute the human personality are not thrown together pell-mell. Our personality is a systematized presentation of self-consciousness, and it may be defined as a center of self-consciousness. We are aware that we are such and such or so-and-so.

To be continued ..