The Gita's Four Basic Conflicts of Life: 2 - Swami Krishnananda.

 

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Friday 13, February 2026, 06:25.
Article
Scriptures
The Gita's Four Basic Conflicts of Life: 2.
Swami Krishnananda.
Spoken to a French-speaking group on December 28th, 1972).

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The inner conflicts are caused by a non-coordination of the inner layers of personality. We have various layers of inner personality, such as the conscious, the subconscious and the unconscious levels of the mind. Though we may be happy consciously, subconsciously we may not be, so a study of our personality does not mean merely a study of our conscious mind. Western psychology has limited itself only to the conscious level and, therefore, it has not solved problems of life. Human personality is deeper than the conscious level. Modern psychoanalysis has understood this doctrine and secret to some extent. Not only can we not understand another person, we cannot understand our own self unless all layers are known at the same time.

Why is there a conflict between the subconscious and the conscious? The answer to this question can be known only when we know what the subconscious is. The subconscious, truly speaking, is a layer of impressions of previous experiences piled up one over the other for years and years together. These impressions which are piled up in the subconscious are consequences of external perception of objects through the senses. Therefore, the subconscious mind, of which the conscious mind is only a part, is made up of impressions of sensory perceptions, and so we may say our personality is made up of impressions of sensory perceptions. We have to think very cautiously and carefully when we analyse our personality in this manner. Thus we have come to know that our personality is the outcome of sensory perceptions.

Now remember, I have taken you from society to the individual, and now from the individual we are going to the objects of the world. This is called the world of nature. Our sensory perceptions will be evaluated on the basis of our attitude to the objects of the world. We have concluded that society is dependent on the individuals, and the individual is dependent on the world of nature outside. Our relationship with the world determines our inner personality, and that determines human society outside. We are now slowly going from the effect to the cause. The senses always imagine that there are many objects in this world, and therefore, they are craving contact with these objects. Sensory perception is nothing but the activity of the senses to grab or come in contact with desirable objects and avoid undesirable objects. The whole of the activity of the world is nothing but this sort of sensory activity. But the question comes now, “Why do the senses want certain things and not certain other things?” They have got a peculiar notion about the objects of the world, and this notion has to be analysed threadbare.

The senses have two notions about things. One notion is that things are outside them. The other notion is that things are localised in space and time. One thing can be only in one place, and it cannot be in two places. This is one of the ideas of the senses. The senses do not know that things are interconnected among themselves. If the interconnection of things is known, the senses will not go for a few objects of the world alone. There is a feeling that the objects are physical, external, as well as localised. But this is a misconception of the senses.

Yesterday in our analysis we came to the conclusion that things are not diversified or physical in their nature, but have a deeper background beneath them. Reality shall always assert itself, and it is difficult to defy the nature of reality. The reality of things is not diversity, but coordination and unity. In the beginning it appears that things are divided among themselves; later on it appears that they are connected with one another, and still later we will realise that they are one in their substance.

The Bhagavadgita has eighteen chapters, and they are divided into three groups of six chapters each. The first six chapters, the second six chapters and the third six chapters gradually solve the conflict of division, coordination and unity, or rather we may say that the solutions of the individual, the universal and the Absolute are given in these stages of the chapters. The subject is very vast, and this is only a very bare outline of what the Bhagavadgita says. To study the entire gospel of the Gita would take a very, very long time. I will explain in a few minutes what it actually says. 

As long as the conflict between God and man is not solved, no other conflict can be solved. The root disease is the separation of the individual from the Supreme Being. The aspiration of the individual for unity, coordination, social welfare, etc., is only an indication of its aspiration for unity with the Absolute. We are trying for outward unity through such organisations as the United Nations, etc. They will not succeed unless there is spiritual unity. We cannot join broken glass however much we may try. If we want to join the glass pieces, we have to melt them and then recast them. We do not know this secret. We think that unity can be achieved by conferences and parliaments. The individuals have to be melted into the Absolute, and then only can there be real unity.

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Continues

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