The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita - 8.8 Swami Krishnananda.

 

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Sunday, January 31, 2021. 03:13. PM.

Chapter 8: The Yoga of Action-8.

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I do not exist for myself, and you do not exist for yourself. Nothing exists for itself. Everything exists for everything else. This consciousness of the fact that we exist for everyone, and that everyone exists for everything else, is perhaps the height of the consciousness of the democratic administration prevailing in the universe. When everything is for everything else, and nothing is only for itself, where, then, comes the binding character of activity? The question does not arise. Neither is it possible for one to sit inactive, doing nothing, for the reasons already mentioned, nor can action bind one if one is truly awakened and has an insight into the meaning of existence.

“Why are we worried, then?” asked Arjuna. “What sorrows us? Why does one commit sin? How are we anxious at every moment of time in spite of this great truth that is revealed by you, Krishna? What is the mystery of this sorrow? What is the secret of the grief of anyone, notwithstanding this universal fact of all things?”

Desire is the secret behind the sorrow of the individual. We have no other enemies in the world; our desires are our enemies. We attract enemies from outside on account of the magnetic activity of our own desires inside. As a magnet pulls iron filings toward itself, a particular distracted form of the psyche attracts positive or negative reaction from outside. Our friends and foes are the inward conditioning of our own psychic fluctuations, they are not outside us. Unless desire is subdued, sorrow cannot be averted. How can we overcome desire? This question is answered in a precise manner in two important verses.

The question has been raised as to what it is that obstructs our endeavours in the right direction in spite of our having grasped, to some extent, the structure of the cosmos, such that we are inseparably connected with the whole creation and any notion of agency in action individually is a misplacement of values. There is no such thing as an individual action inasmuch as the universe is an organic whole and there is a ‘total action’ taking place everywhere. The so-called individual efforts are part and parcel of the effort of the cosmos towards the realisation of its great purpose. Having understood all this, how is it that we seem to be prevented from moving in the right direction? What is this mystery?

Krishna’s answer is that desire is the obstacle, anger is the obstacle, greed is the obstacle. This is another way of saying that the intensity of the ego-sense is the obstacle, because desire, anger, greed, etc., are various modus operandi of the ego of the individual. How could we get over this problem, if this is the case? If the ego is so hard, if it is bent upon having its own way, and desires are so insatiable, and anger is unavoidable, greed is a part of our nature, what is going to be our fate? This is another question that follows from the earlier one. Again, the great answer comes from the Master.

It is difficult to control the senses by ordinary means. Any effort at the subdual of the sense-organs by force of will, will not be successful, ultimately. Like restive horses which are unwilling to pull the vehicle, like violent bulls which cannot be horned with ease, like ferocious beasts which we cannot approach with impunity, are the senses impetuous, wild in their behaviour, incorrigible in their character. And if we apply force, they may appear to be controlled for the time being, but suppression or repression of desire is not control of desire. The so-called repression will have a reaction in an undesirable manner. The unfulfilled desires will wreak vengeance one day, and catch us by the throat and demand their dues in a more vehement manner than they would have done under ordinary circumstances. What is the way? The way is the sublimation of desires by the art of Yoga, not the repression or pushing down the impulses into the subconscious. That is not the way of Yoga.

Higher than the senses is the mind. Higher than the mind is the intellect. Higher than the intellect is the Atman, the pure Spirit within us. By a resort to the higher faculty, the lower can be restrained. But a lower method cannot be applied to the lower impulses when they are working parallelly. A little bit of psychological satisfaction born of understanding is necessary in order that the impetuosity of the senses can be mellowed down. The senses are vehement on account of the fact that their movement towards the object outside in space and time is due to a reason quite different from the one which they have in their minds.

To be continued ....

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