THIS POST IS CONTINUED FROM PART 131, BELOW--
LET US EXAMINE WHAT BHAGAWAD GITA TOLD ABOUT THE HUMAN MIND 6000 YEARS AGO , WHEN THE WHITE MAN WAS RUNNING AROUND DOING GRUNT GRUNT FOR LANGUAGE , AND THOUGHT HIS BLESSED ASSHOLE WAS HIS MIND
Vedanta told us -- As the mind is, so is the body ; bodily expressions being the manifestation of the working of the mind or the effect of psyche. This is what we call ‘body language’ in the modern business school terminology.
मात्रास्पर्शास्तुकौन्तेयशीतोष्णसुखदु: खदा: |
आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्वभारत|| 14||
mātrā-sparśhās tu kaunteya śhītoṣhṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ
āgamāpāyino ’nityās tans-titikṣhasva bhārata
.
Translation
BG 2.14: O son of Kunti, the contact between the senses and the sense objects gives rise to fleeting perceptions of happiness and distress. These are non-permanent, and come and go like the winter and summer seasons. O descendent of Bharat, one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.
Objects are perceived not by the sense organs viz. skin, ear, eye, nose and tongue but through them. The sense organs are the channels through which the perceiving-ego gathers the knowledge of the objects such as touch, sound, form, smell and taste. If this process of perceiver contacting the objects through sense organs does not take place the objects as such can not bring any response or reaction in any individual.
The object remaining the same it can give different experiences to the same individual at different times or at the same time to different individuals.
Cold is pleasant at one time and unpleasant at another. Heat is pleasant in winter and not in summer. Food is welcome to a hungry person but not to the one who just finished his lunch.
So the sense contacts that give rise to feelings of heat and cold, pleasure and pain, favorable and unfavorable experiences come and go. They are therefore impermanent in nature, giving pleasure at one moment and pain at another.
One should bear all the pairs of opposites patiently and thus develop a balanced state of mind. Do not give yourself to joy or grief on their account.
Joys and sorrows are all responses of the mind to the conducive and non-conducive world around us. They are but mental reactions - thoughts.
Learn to be observer of these emotions rather than get identified with them. Do not react but reflect. Stand apart - be aloof in yourself - be just an uninterested witness to the tumults of the mind. This attitude gives poise and balance.
The pairs of opposites like heat and cold are impermanent as distinguished from the Permanent Self, the Indweller. Actually there is no affinity between the Self and the unreal pairs of opposites. But it assumed this affinity which can be rooted out only when we cease to accept it.
A woman bereaved of her husband say fifty years ago, and if anyone called her as the wife of her husband Mr. so and so she becomes alert and feels sad even today. It shows that the assumed affinity has not yet broken off which means that though the objects are lost, yet the assumed affinity persists which continues to cause anguish.
The more one is able to distance oneself with this assumed affinity and identifies himself with the permanent Self, the less one is affected by the agreeable and disagreeable conditions of life.
Mere knowledge of agreeable and disagreeable senses is not bad. But attachment with and aversion to them is a fault. Not to be affected by such an evil is expressed by the term ‘endure them’.
Moreover, body, the sense organs and their actions have a beginning and an end. But the perceiver, the ‘I” never changes and therefore we should remain unaffected by such transitory and fleeting experiences which is called ‘endurance’.
यंहिनव्यथयन्त्येतेपुरुषंपुरुषर्षभ|
समदु:खसुखंधीरंसोऽमृतत्वायकल्पते|| 15||
yaṁ hi na vyathayantyete puruṣhaṁ puruṣharṣhabha
sama-duḥkha-sukhaṁ dhīraṁ so ’mṛitatvāya kalpate
.
Translation
BG 2.15: O Arjun, noblest amongst men, that person who is not affected by happiness and distress, and remains steady in both, becomes eligible for liberation.
Titiksha or the power of endurance of the pairs of opposites advocated here does not mean a meek submission to sorrows in life (Stoic philosophy) but signifies the equipoise of mind in both pleasure and pain entertained by a wise man based on the knowledge of the Soul’s immortality.
Endurance, coupled with the discrimination between the real and the unreal and detachment from the worldly objects and pleasures, prepares the aspirant for right knowledge, which alone leads to liberation.
Vedanta defines endurance as the bearing of all afflictions without wishing to redress them, while being free from all anxiety or regret on their account.
This perfect sameness or equanimity amidst the ills of life means full and unbroken consciousness of our oneness with the immortal Self. At that stage a person becomes fit for attaining immortality or knowledge of Self - the ultimate goal of life.
Immortality means the infinite experience of the Eternal and the Permanent. Eternal life does not mean survival of death, but it is the transcendence of life and death.
नासतोविद्यतेभावोनाभावोविद्यतेसत: |
उभयोरपिदृष्टोऽन्तस्त्वनयोस्तत्त्वदर्शिभि: || 16||
nāsato vidyate bhāvo nābhāvo vidyate sataḥ
ubhayorapi dṛiṣhṭo ’nta stvanayos tattva-darśhibhiḥ
.
Translation
BG 2.16: Of the transient there is no endurance, and of the eternal there is no cessation. This has verily been observed by the seers of the truth, after studying the nature of both.
This verse indicates that the mental tranquility can accrue only through right interpretation of life. Right interpretation of life involves knowing what is Real and what is un-Real. The distinction between these two is dealt with here.
The Real is that which has no change and remains the same in all periods of time - past, present and future. It always is. The unreal is that which does not remain the same for two successive moments.
Whatever did not exist in the past or will not exist in the future cannot really exist in the present. That which is not in the beginning and which will not be in the end, but which seemingly exists in the present is called un-Real. Any object conditioned by the law of cause and effect is not absolutely real because every effect is a change brought about by a cause and every cause is temporary.
The life is finite. The body changes every moment, mind evolves and intellect grows with the passage of time. Each change in the body for example from childhood to youth and from youth to old age results in the constant death to its previous state.
Body, mind and intellect constitute the continuous succession of the changes and all of them cannot be real. A thing which never remains the same for any given period is un-Real. The whole of the phenomenal world must be unreal because no one state in it endures even for a fraction of the time.
But there must be some real entity behind these changes. For the changes to take place there must be some changeless substratum just as a river bed is necessary for the rivers to flow. In order to hold together innumerable experiences at the levels of body, mind and intellect and to give them a cohesive whole which is called life, a changeless substratum is required for all.
That something which remains unchanged all through the changes is The Real and it is nothing other than the Self in all, the Pure Awareness, and Consciousness. What is changing must be unreal and what is constant must be real. When the soul is overpowered by ignorance, the un-Real which is the names and forms of the phenomenal world, veils the unchanging reality - the Atman, Consciousness - which is for ever manifest and which is not conditioned by causality.
This Self is the unchanging Witness of the changes in the relative world as in the case of the river bed and a flowing river.
This Awareness by which one becomes conscious of things in one's life - because of which one is considered alive, but for which one will have no existence in the given embodiment - That Spiritual Entity, Eternal, All Pervading, Unborn and Undying, the One Changeless factor is the Infinite in him. And this is the Atman, Consciousness which is the Real.
Therefore the men of knowledge and wisdom have known the implications of these - the Real and the Un-Real, the Self and the Non-Self, which in combination is called the world.
Embedding this exposition into the practical world, we notice that Arjuna is grieved by thinking that the warriors will die. So, the Lord explains that the real never dies and the unreal never exists as it is continuously dying (changing). Therefore it is not wise to grieve.
भोगैश्वर्यप्रसक्तानांतयापहृतचेतसाम्|
व्यवसायात्मिकाबुद्धि: समाधौनविधीयते|| 44||
bhogaiśwvarya-prasaktānāṁ tayāpahṛita-chetasām
vyavasāyātmikā buddhiḥ samādhau na vidhīyate
.
Translation
BG 2.44: With their minds deeply attached to worldly pleasures and their intellects bewildered by such things, they are unable to possess the resolute determination for success on the path to God.
त्रैगुण्यविषयावेदानिस्त्रैगुण्योभवार्जुन|
निर्द्वन्द्वोनित्यसत्त्वस्थोनिर्योगक्षेमआत्मवान्|| 45||
trai-guṇya-viṣhayā vedā nistrai-guṇyo bhavārjuna
nirdvandvo nitya-sattva-stho niryoga-kṣhema ātmavān
.
Translation
BG 2.45: The Vedas deal with the three modes of material nature, O Arjun. Rise above the three modes to a state of pure spiritual consciousness. Freeing yourself from dualities, eternally fixed in truth, and without concern for material gain and safety, be situated in the self.
Krishna tells him to transcend himself from the triple Gunas. Guna means attribute or quality. Nature is made of three Gunas viz., Sattwa - purity, light, harmony; Rajas - passion, restlessness, motion; and Tamas - inertia, and darkness. These three Gunas remain in all the living creatures in varying degrees.
The mind and intellect are constituted with these qualities. Going above these temperaments means going beyond the mind and intellect to re-discover one to be the Supreme Self.
Krishna advises Arjuna the practical method to be free from all the pairs of opposites and from the thought of acquisition and preservation and ever remaining in the quality of Sattwa by establishing himself in the Self by remaining on guard and not yielding to the objects of the senses.
The sorrows of the pairs of the opposites, the temptation to be impure and the desire for acquiring and preserving all belong to the ego-centre arising out of the Self identifying with not-Self i.e. body, mind and intellect.
To keep ourselves detached from these ego-centric ideas through constant awareness of our pure divine nature is the path shown by Krishna to establish oneself in the Self when the individual ego finds itself free from all anxieties of the world.
Necessarily then one will be beyond the three Gunas free from the pairs of opposites remaining always in the Sattvic quality. This attitude implies that one should be balanced and not swayed by either extreme. Sattva enables an aspiring soul to go beyond the Gunas and attain freedom.
Arjuna is asked to follow these injunctions while engaged in the performance of his duty.
बुद्धियुक्तोजहातीहउभेसुकृतदुष्कृते|
तस्माद्योगाययुज्यस्वयोग: कर्मसुकौशलम्|| 50||
buddhi-yukto jahātīha ubhe sukṛita-duṣhkṛite
tasmād yogāya yujyasva yogaḥ karmasu kauśhalam
.
Translation
BG 2.50: One who prudently practices the science of work without attachment can get rid of both good and bad reactions in this life itself. Therefore, strive for Yog, which is the art of working skillfully (in proper consciousness).
Krishna says ‘devote yourself to the yoga of equanimity’ i.e. remain continuously even-minded through realization of God. If a man performs his duties, maintaining this evenness, then his mind rests on God all the while.
Work that otherwise enslaves, becomes a means to freedom when performed with evenness of mind. Work becomes worship. Skill in action, therefore, lies in the practice of this equanimity (of yoga) in success and failure.
It should be noted that here Krishna does not define Yoga as skill in action but explains the importance of Yoga (equanimity) in action. Otherwise, the action of a thief carried out skillfully also can come within the meaning of the Yoga which will be obviously ridiculous.
कर्मजंबुद्धियुक्ताहिफलंत्यक्त्वामनीषिण: |
जन्मबन्धविनिर्मुक्ता: पदंगच्छन्त्यनामयम्|| 51||
karma-jaṁ buddhi-yuktā hi phalaṁ tyaktvā manīṣhiṇaḥ
janma-bandha-vinirmuktāḥ padaṁ gachchhanty-anāmayam
.
Translation
BG 2.51: The wise endowed with equanimity of intellect, abandon attachment to the fruits of actions, which bind one to the cycle of life and death. By working in such consciousness, they attain the state beyond all suffering.
The wise i.e those who know the art of true living undertake all work with evenness of mind (renouncement of ego) and abandoning the anxiety for the fruits of their actions (renouncement of ego-motivated desires). Thereby, they have no occasion to enter into the cycle of birth and death as there are no vasanas left in them for fulfillment.
Such an entity who is called a Karma Yogin will attain bliss i.e. the state which is beyond all evils. As knowledge is superior to action, the implication is that selfless actions purify the mind and prepare the individual for higher meditations through which he ultimately discovers himself as the Self which lies beyond all blemish. .
यदातेमोहकलिलंबुद्धिर्व्यतितरिष्यति|
तदागन्तासिनिर्वेदंश्रोतव्यस्यश्रुतस्यच|| 52||
yadā te moha-kalilaṁ buddhir vyatitariṣhyati
tadā gantāsi nirvedaṁ śhrotavyasya śhrutasya cha
.
Translation
BG 2.52: When your intellect crosses the quagmire of delusion, you will then acquire indifference to what has been heard and what is yet to be heard (about enjoyments in this world and the next).
Delusion is the non-discrimination between the Self and the non-Self or ego and it turns the mind towards the sense objects. This is the state which favors egoism in this body and attachment for the body, family, kinsmen and objects. When the man gets entangled in this slough of delusion, he is perplexed and therefore cannot think properly.
When the intellect crosses over this delusion and attains purity of mind one develops disgust and indifference regarding things heard (enjoyed) and those yet to be heard (to be enjoyed in future). The things known and yet to be known being finite in nature are considered futile. The means to achieve this goal are by discrimination between the real and the unreal and selfless service.
श्रुतिविप्रतिपन्नातेयदास्थास्यतिनिश्चला|
समाधावचलाबुद्धिस्तदायोगमवाप्स्यसि|| 53||
śhruti-vipratipannā te yadā sthāsyati niśhchalā
samādhāv-achalā buddhis tadā yogam avāpsyasi
.
Translation
BG 2.53: When your intellect ceases to be allured by the fruitive sections of the Vedas and remains steadfast in divine consciousness, you will then attain the state of perfect Yog.
The mind gets agitated due to the continuous stimuli it receives from the external world through the sense organs. When an individual in spite of such disturbances and agitations of the mind does not lose his cool, inner serenity and equipoise, and remains concentrated in the knowledge of the Self, he is considered as having attained Yoga or Samadhi or Self Realization (God-Consciousness).
Samadhi is not the loss of consciousness but the highest kind of consciousness wherein the object with which the mind is in communion is the Divine Self which is the result of the discrimination between the Self and the Non-Self, the Real and the Unreal.
श्रीभगवानुवाच|
प्रजहातियदाकामान्सर्वान्पार्थमनोगतान्|
आत्मन्येवात्मनातुष्ट: स्थितप्रज्ञस्तदोच्यते|| 55||
śhrī bhagavān uvācha
prajahāti yadā kāmān sarvān pārtha mano-gatān
ātmany-evātmanā tuṣhṭaḥ sthita-prajñas tadochyate
.
Translation
BG 2.55: The Supreme Lord said: O Parth, when one discards all selfish desires and cravings of the senses that torment the mind, and becomes satisfied in the realization of the self, such a person is said to be transcendentally situated.
Man is a bundle of desires. They may be strong or weak and have an origin and a seat in his mind for whatever cause it may be. Therefore when the mind along with the intellect rests stable in God, all the desires will vanish. After the cessation of all the desires, when a seeker perceives the Supreme Self and rests in the perpetual calm, he is known as ‘satisfied in the self through the self’.
Bhagavan says that in the second line - When one discovers happiness in oneself by oneself - then one is called - a wise person.
When one recognizes that one's very nature is “ananda”- one’s very nature is happiness, then there is no need for one to depend on the external objects for fulfillment of one's happiness.
When one recognizes that one's very nature is sat-chit-ananda-svarupa-atma - one discovers that one has nothing to gain from outside to be happy - and also, one realizes that one has already gained everlasting happiness in the form of Vision of oneself everywhere and in everything including oneself.
The happiness arising from such vision is called “one discovering Happiness in oneself, by one self in the wake of self knowledge”. When that knowledge takes place, there is no craving for any object or experience external to ones own self, to be happy.
At that time all desires have no hold on oneself and they naturally fall from one's mind and buddhi, which is same as telling that one naturally and completely grows out of one's dependence on the fulfillment of one's desires for one's happiness. Discovering happiness as one's own very self, one has no need to go after something else to be happy. Such discovery is indeed the mark of a wise person.
Negatively, this state is one of freedom from selfish desires and positively, it is one of concentration on the supreme. This verse answers the first part of Arjuna's question.
दु:खेष्वनुद्विग्नमना: सुखेषुविगतस्पृह: |
वीतरागभयक्रोध: स्थितधीर्मुनिरुच्यते|| 56||
duḥkheṣhv-anudvigna-manāḥ sukheṣhu vigata-spṛihaḥ
vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhaḥ sthita-dhīr munir uchyate
.
Translation
BG 2.56: One whose mind remains undisturbed amidst misery, who does not crave for pleasure, and who is free from attachment, fear, and anger, is called a sage of steady wisdom.
Times of pain and sorrow hit everybody and a wise man is no exception; but his mind does not get bogged down by them. His pain is localized, and it stops there. Similarly, in times of pleasure, the one who has no craving has no thirst for more of that pleasure. Thus the one who does not feel depressed in times of pain and sorrow, and who in times of pleasure has no craving for more of that pleasure is a wise man.
The one whose mind and intellect are totally free from intense longing or passion for anything outside of oneself, free from fear of any kind and devoid of anger or temporary madness about anything is called one whose is steady and well rooted in self knowledge.
Such a person is also called one who is capable of reflection, analysis and proper judgment at all times being always immersed in God Consciousness. He is called the wise person.
य: सर्वत्रानभिस्नेहस्तत्तत्प्राप्यशुभाशुभम्|
नाभिनन्दतिनद्वेष्टितस्यप्रज्ञाप्रतिष्ठिता|| 57||
yaḥ sarvatrānabhisnehas tat tat prāpya śhubhāśhubham
nābhinandati na dveṣhṭi tasya prajñā pratiṣhṭhitā
.
Translation
BG 2.57: One who remains unattached under all conditions, and is neither delighted by good fortune nor dejected by tribulation, he is a sage with perfect knowledge.
The enlightened sage or the Perfected one has evenness of mind. He does not rejoice in pleasure nor is he averse to any pain. He has no attachment to any worldly object. He does not get disturbed when praised or censured. He is always identified with the Self.
A mere detachment from life and retiring to the jungles is not implied here. Such aimless detachment cannot lead a man to any higher level of existence and it is merely an escapist view of life.
The detachment from the outside world should be coupled with capacity to face all challenges in life - auspicious and inauspicious - with a balanced mind in both.
Life by its very nature is a mixture of good and bad. The perfected one experiences both of them with equal detachment because he is ever established in the Self.
यदासंहरतेचायंकूर्मोऽङ्गानीवसर्वश: |
इन्द्रियाणीन्द्रियार्थेभ्यस्तस्यप्रज्ञाप्रतिष्ठिता|| 58||
yadā sanharate chāyaṁ kūrmo ’ṅgānīva sarvaśhaḥ
indriyāṇīndriyārthebhyas tasya prajñā pratiṣhṭhitā
.
Translation
BG 2.58: One who is able to withdraw the senses from their objects, just as a tortoise withdraws its limbs into its shell, is established in divine wisdom.
The sense organs receive the stimuli from the objects of the external world which are passed on to the mind. The mind has got a natural tendency to run after such worldly objects. The yogi withdraws the mind again and again from the objects of the senses and fixes it on the Self and makes himself free from the disturbances of life.
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