生 活 的 藝 術 之 南 境 知 識 棧

A series of talks of 

The Bhagavad Gita

By His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Chapter 2.  Sankhya Yoga

August 14^th 2007              Los Angeles, USA

Life is a long story of dependency. And the battle there is to become independence. We came to this planet being dependent. Somebody had to change our diapers, someone had to feed us when we were hungry. When we were hungry, we never had the ability to grab things and eat what we want. We don’t even know what to eat and what not to eat. Somebody has to take care of us. We have come to this planet being a dependant. The day 1 of your arrival, you are a dependant. Nature takes care, it puts that feeling or those emotion in the parents. It compels them to take care of you. Whether it is a monkey, kitten, calf or donkey in the creation, every animal has this instinct to take care of the young ones. Even elephants, the whole herd of elephants will stay if a baby is sleeping. It happened in Bangalore near the ashram, the herd of forest elephants, they moved and the baby elephants, they get tired so they fell asleep on the tar road because it is very nice road. When they fall asleep, all the elephants stand around and guard till they wake up, they don’t move an inch. They will hold the whole traffic. (laughter) But the instinct is there to take care of the young one. Someone has to put us to sleep, someone has to wake us up, change the diaper, feed us, take care of us, we didn’t know anything. All that we knew is to cry when there is a need.

And when we become older, we become dependent, we can’t lift the luggage. We can’t do things. If you are very old, you definitely need help. So, in between this old age and the infrancy what we call life, there also we are dependent but we simply don’t realise. We are dependent in so many ways, on so many people. We are dependent on the teachers, on the professors. We are dependent on the psychologists. We are dependent on the servants. We are dependent on people who render on different services.

Life is a long story of dependency. But the inner struggle is to become free. And what can bring you the freedom? That is knowledge. It’s only knowledge that can bring us the freedom. It’s only wisdom that can uplift us from a sense of utter helplessness. Physical, intellectual, emotional dependency can be uplifted through wisdom and spiritual experience.

So, when Arjuna was so broken down, emotionally he was in a mess, he broke down emotionally. Intellectually he was trying to justify the state he was in. When you are confused both emotionally and intellectually, you need a guidance. That’s when you see “I really need some help!” Then, he looks at Krishna and says  shishyas te ’ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam  2.7  “I am your disciple, please guide me. Please take me out of this state that I am in.”

Unless someone asks for guidance, it is useless to give them guidance. (laughter) Someone is so arrogant, you keep giving them advices, it is of no use. One doesn’t want the road map and you go on distributing them the road map. They don’t even want to travel, go anywhere. You give them road map, what use is it for them? Life poses many situations around you wherein you feel all the roads are closed, everywhere there is blockage, that’s when you really cry for help. That wanting help to become free that itself is a big forture.

In world you find people who are misable and they don’t know they are misable. And they think that is what the life is and they carry on the whole life, being misable. And making others more misable. (laughter) And there are others who are misable, they know that they are misable but they don’t want to get out of it. They just want to draw attention. In the process of gaining attention, they start enjoying their own misery. And there are very few, those who recognise they are misable and they want to get out of misery. That’s when their heart cries for help. Arjuna was in such a state.

Then, he says “Lord Krishna, look what would I gain by waging this war, killing so many people. Even if I get all the power and money and pleasure of the world, I will never be happy. My heart will ache. I will suffer. In this junction of my life only you know what is best, why don’t you please tell me? I am your disciple, please tell me.” The sincere request from Arjuna.

Sri Krishna starts speaking. He says  asocyan anvasocas tvam  2.11  “Those wise people will not cry for that which is happening and which has happened. At this junction in life you want to run away? You are in the mdist of war. It has begun already and now you say you want to run away?”

Krishna has a task to deal with Arjuna both emotionally and intellectually. He has to give him the emotional support and give him an intellectual clarity. You know, it is easy to convince an innocent people but it is difficult to convince an intellectual. You need an effort because he will only go around in his logic. You have to go through the logic in order to get him out of the logic that he is in. Or make him realise that there is something more than what he thinks is the reality. And this challenge Krishna takes it up and tells him “Come on, wake up, drop this weaknesses of your emotion.”

You know, emotional weakness blinds your vision, blinds your perception. You know this often happens when somebody is undergoing an emotional turbulence, turmoil then they can not see anything clearly. They think that world has come to an end. That is the end of the world. Feel everything has crumped down. Life has become a waste or it’s a dead end.

From this state of mental turmoil, emotional turmoil, if you have to come out of it, you need certain wisdom and you need someone who has the wit and pull you out of that. And that is exactly what Krishna does. He says “Come on, this is your weakness of your heart, emotional. Drop this emotional weakness. Wake up and see what will happen on your reputation?”

Only one thing which can pull you out of emotional weakness is poking your ego. (laughter) “Come on, you are crying! Who you are? You are the prince. Don’t you see what will people think about you if you sit and cry and run away from the war? It is better to die than getting disgrace, being blamed by everybody. Are you not ashame to sit and cry?” He tells all these things. He doesn’t say don’t be football of others’ opinion. (laughter) At that time, He says what people will talk about you. For centuries people will remember you as a coward. It is better to die than lives with dishonour. What is this? It is poking one’s ego. To overcome the emotional flimsiness, if the ego is pokeed then that person stands up. And that exactly what happens.

You know, many people break up their relationship but when their ego is pokeed, they stand up. Then, they fight, fight to the end. The tendency to fight comes. It’s inbuilt in everybody, it’s nature safety valve. That’s why most of the divorces end up in fight because divorce itself is heart breaking. When the heart is broken, it doesn’t want to go smooth, it wants to stand up and fight and finish to the last. It’s inbuilt in the system.

So, Arjuna was told “Come on, wake up and see! If you fight and win the war, you will be the king, you will be the prince. You will be the king. (He’s already a prince) If you lose it, you will be remembered as great warrior, martyr.” So, Krishna tried poking the ego. But He doesn’t leave it there, that is most dangerous. You poke somebody’s (ego) and leave them there. (laughter)

Then, He says, He comes about the Sankhya Yoga. He says “Just sit up and analyse who we are? Who are you? Who am I?  dehino ’smin yatha dehe   kaumaram yauvanam jara  2.13   What life is? You are in this body. The body is just like a garment, a cloth that you put on. The soul has no birth no death. Even you think the soul is born, then when a soul is born, it will die. And then whenever there is death, it will be a rebirth. It’s a cycle because there is nothing under the sun gets extinguished. The spirit can never be extinguished.

nasato vidyate bhavo   nabhavo vidyate satah  2.16

The truth will never perish; untruth can never exist. Good will always exist and evil has no existence. Even if you think we are being born, we are dying. He says “If you die, you will be born again. The life itself is a game, is a cycle. You just perform your duty, why you are getting into this emotional mussy mussy state! It’s not becoming of you. You have so much capability. You have to perform your duty. The population is looking towards you as a savior, as a soldier, as a prince who will stand up for them. Now, you want to run away? They will all blame you and talk bad about your ability. Wake up!”

And He says Sankhya Yoga, what is spirit? Who am I? Who are we? Before our birth, we are unmanifested. Now, we are all in the body, we are all manifested and afterward we will again become unmanifested. The spirit moves from being manifested to unmanifested to unmanifested. When that is the case, why do you sit and cry? You are sitting and howling. “Come on, wake up!”

Know the signs of life. It’s the wisdom that brings you independence, that brings you freedom. It’s only wisdom that can bring you freedom. Otherwise, you will feel obliged your whole life. Living under obligation is hell. Realising you are free really brings that freedom. When you are free, you contribute to everybody around you.

So wake up! There is inner conflict. Inner conflict indicates lack of freedom. It’s not just the war outside, the whole Mahabharatha is not just the war outside, a phenomenon that happened a few thousands ago. It’s a regular routine in the creation. It keeps happening within everybody. The heart and mind are conflicting with each other. There is no freedom. When wisdom puts them in their places, puts heart in its place, mind in its place and brings you the inner freedom. And that’s the job of a wise person, of a guru, bringing the clarity. Guru is the wisdom. And Krishna plays the role of a guru here. And Arjuna says “I am your disciple, please help me out. You are the only one who can guide, who can tell me now.”

dehino ’smin yatha dehe   kaumaram yauvanam jara  2.13

Like we have infancy and youth and then adulthood and we get old, the old age. In the same way we come into another body. We are born again. We all play our role, this game called world. We all have our roles to play and play your roles well. Wake up, don’t get caught up in your emotional turbulence. And giving this vision, tells you what is Self? Who are you?

Some people are astonished even talking about the Being, about the Self. Some listen to that with astonishment “Wow!” and even after hearing so much about it, nobody knows it! (laughter)  ascarya-vat pasyati kascid enam  2.29

When you go deep in meditation, you realise this is what I am. “Wow!” That comes out “Wow!” “Who am I? What is this universe all about? What is spirit? What is life? What is soul?”

The soul can never be cut into pieces, the soul can never be burnt, can never be buried. It can never be made wet. Nothing happens to the soul. Like nothing happens to the space. You can’t wet the space. The space is unbreakable so is our soul. Our spirit is not a substance. It is a vast expanse. So such is the nature of you, your true spirit, it can never be destroyed. No arrow can pierced through your spirit. You know? Your hand can be amputated but your mind can not be amputated, your spirit can not be amputated. Spirit is indestructable. That gives a big sigh of relief to Arjuna. Spirit is indestructable.

You know, even though people get old, they never feel that they have become old. Often people say “Ah! Poor old man!” The man who is saying that himself is old. (laughter) He doesn’t feel himself is a poor old man. When you see young children growing up, you say “Oh, they’ve all grown up.” But you feel that you have never grown up, you are the same. There is something in you deep inside that says you have never changed. How many of you have this experience? Years pass by, you have cut so many birthday cakes, (laughter) made so many wishes, blow candles after candles every year and yet you feel inside “Hey, I have not grown, nothing has changed, I am the same, I am not going to die.” Even on the death bed people don’t feel that they are going to die. You talk to people in the hospice, they all plan, they still have plans of what they should be doing. There is not a slightest feeling that you are going to die, your life is going to finish. Why this feeling? What is the secret behind it? Though you see people everyday dying everywhere. Something inside you refuses to believe that you are going to die. That is true because you are not going to die, you will never die! You are only changing your outfit (laughter). You are going to your wardrobe. Wardrobe? (Yes, yes, wardrobe.) You just go to your wardrobe and change your dress, that’s all. Every death is nothing but a visit to your wardrobe. (laughter) You come right back with the new costume. (laughter)

Krishna knew it, Arjuna didn’t know, that’s the problem. When someone knows someone doesn’t know on this matter which is so subtle, so untangible is difficult to convince somebody. Otherwise, Gita would have finished by 2^nd chapter. (laughter) If Arjuna was totally convinced “Yes, ok, you have said it and I am going to fight. Finish! (laughter) stop talking.” No, it didn’t. Because knowing here is something, feeling there is something else. And having coordination between these two is something all together different. (laughter) Sometime you know here, you know there but they don’t match. (laughter) Coordination doesn’t happen.

The 2^nd chapter is called Sankhya Yoga. Sankhya Yoga means awareness, through knowledge and awareness knowing who you are, what is the nature of your spirit, how indestructable you are, how nothing can destroy you, nothing can even touch, destroying is so far away. Nothing can even touch you.

You know the other day, a lady told me that she lost her husband, not too long ago maybe just a month and a half ago. She was speaking on the phone, I asked her how did everything go, all the ceremonies, you know, condolence, meeting, what do you call that? Huh? (Funeral) Funeral, how did the funeral service and everything go? She said “It went so good, so beautiful. Everything went so well. I am so grateful.” You know, it is hard for some people to go on grieving about some things that have happened. She said “But people will feel, if I go to party.... I don’t feel anything, I feel he has gone to a right place. I am happy for him that he did not suffer any more.” Her husband was sick. So, everything went on very well. “I am completely at peace.” she was saying. But the concern was what would other people think? (laughter) “Huh, this lady is smiling and she just lost her husband!”

World can not understand the complex emotion. Often people have this complain, why often, all the time (laughter) “Nobody understand me!” Understanding is a fact, a matter of head, feeling is so far away from it. Feeling can never be 100% understood. Feeling are feelings. So, you have to put up a face of mourning because others will misunderstand you. You have to stop participating in parties and functions because others would say “Look at this lady, she is now dressing up and going out.” Become suspicous about it.

It did happen with one of our devotee, her husband was kidnapped. And when she called me and I said “Don’t worry, he will come back. He will be back.” So she has full faith in what Guruji had said then she was so calm. So, when the police officers came, she served them sweets and gave them coffee and tea. (laughter) And the police officers got so confused. They even had suspicion maybe this lady had done something (laughter). Maybe she is a party to this kidnapping. He couldn’t believe that she is so calm and serene, did not worry. She has no a slightest sign of worry on her face. That worried the police! (laughter) Of course, exactly the 7th day I had said he will come back in next week whatever time it was, 10 days or 15 days, he came back on that particular day. And she was very confident the whole time, quite happy as though normal. (laughter) Nothing has happened. But the entire media, the world, the entire country, media, everywhere, everybody was on fire. Because he is a very prominent CEO, very prominent member of the society. It was a big news everywhere except for the wife. (laughter) It’s not that she cared less but she knew she has the strength, she has the faith. Krishna instilling the faith back in Arjuna.

When a boy or girl breaks up with their relationship, they break down completely. That’s when someone instills the faith “Come on, your friend doesn’t recognise your worth. They don’t see your beauty, they don’t see your goodness, your brilliance. Wake up, don’t worry!” you know, they get back on track.

This wanting approval is so deep in our society that pulls a person down. It makes him emotionally and intellectually into a mess. It makes one emotionally and intellectually weak. The Self knowledge takes you out of this lather. Once you have a glimse of this, you are free from fear.   sv-alpam apy asya dharmasya
trayate mahato bhayat  2.40  Even a little bit of this, dharma, this understanding of your true nature, walking on this path will save you from enormous fear, burden that you feel in your life. It uplifts you from fear, uplifts you from aniexty.

Today anxiety is so common in our society. This is because you are seeking for approval. Making you self center, self center is a wrong word here, making you center. (laughter) Getting you center, makes the whole shift. And nothing better than the 2^nd chapter to put you onto your center.

How to get to the center? It’s the 5 senses draw you out in the world. Anything nice you see, your eyes, they suck you. They suck your attention, your mind. Something good you hear and that’s it. Sense of hearing you are lost in that. Sight, smell, taste, touch and sound take your mind outward and your mind spreading thin on the outer indicates your weakness. When you become so weak then retrieve back, bring your senses inward.

He gives a beautiful analogy. See, to be able to give an analogy in a war field needs some guts. When there is chaos all around, it’s very cool to give analogy after analogy and making him understand. Your understanding can only flow from what you already know and analogy helps there.

He says like a tortoise, how a turtle walks so slow but when it finds a danger, it pulls all its limbs and face inside. In the same way, when you face with misery in the world turn inward. There you find the strength. Then your consciousness stabilises there. You are established. You become free. Only when you are free can you ever be happy.

When you hear a lot of good things, your mind wants to have that. You see something good, your mind wants to have that. You have a desire to possess them. This wanting to possess thing somewhere somehow makes you miserable. Desire brings anger. Behind every anger there is a desire. Without desire, anger can not exist. Desire brings anger. And when you are angry at someone, anger brings delusion, attachment. You shouted at somebody, you be angry with somebody, you cannot get over them. If they have not reacted, it’s worst. (laughter) If they react, tit for tat, eye for eye, tooth for tooth at least there are chances to forget. If they don’t react, you can never forget them. That lingers on in you then you get more attached to them. Delusion develops. kamat krodho ’bhijayate  krodhad bhavati sammohah  2.62 / 2.63  Then comes the delusion and attachment. Then, you lose the awareness of who you are.

Sankhya Yoga and Buddhi Yoga. Buddhi Yoga means the yoga of intellect. If your mind is scattered all over the place, you don’t find your center, you don’t have a focus, you can never be happy. When you hear too many things, read too many books, you are scattered all over the place, you can never achieve anything.

I remember one of our teacher. He used to bring books of investment. He will just buy the books how to do business and never did any business. (laughter) Every business magazine he will come and he will read and sit and dream about it. He will not take one business and do. He will come out with all the big possibility and dream the whole time. You know, suitcases full of business magazines, didn’t do a thing! (laughter) I told him, you really want to do business, stop reading all these magazines, take up any one thing at least, come on, start working.

Same with many scholars, they go on reading books day and night, spend time in library, never sit and contemplate, go deep, dive deep into with any one principle that is written in those books. Reading is one thing but experiencing is totally another thing. Many times people read just to prove to other that they are well read. (laughter) just to show off to others. I know a scholar who will just quote numbers and verses all that he read even from other religious books so that a layman who listens to him will say “Oh, this man is so well read, he knows it all.” But you look at his face, anybody will say he has not developed, not even experienced a bit of what he speaks.

Yujda is a word used in Sanskirt means united with, united with the Being, with the Self. The Yujda, it will sharpen in its intellect and will be soft in its emotion. His emotion is enriched. You know, often when people are very sharp in the intellect, they neglect their emotional aspect. If they are very well developed in their emotion, their intellect suffers, sets back. But the Yujda, one who is united, one who is centered has both. It nurtures both. It nurtures both sides of your brains, the left and right brain.

So, He says “I tell you so far the Sankhya Yoga, tell you about the Self. Now, I am going to tell you about the intellect, Buddhi Yoga as well.” Because it’s the intellect which blocks you from experiencing. It’s intellect which leads you towards experience as well. Many times we have experienced but we start doubting our own experience. It is because our intellect which is not united, is not centered. That does not come to you by listening to too many discourses. It comes by being centered. When you are focus, your action is fruitful, is successful. Your mind is aligned. Otherwise, mind is scattered all over the place.

Buddhi Yoga is bringing focus into the mind, bringing focus to the mind, focus in your action. Focus in action depends on the focus on the Being. There is a say  kripanah phala-hetavah  2.49  One who is thinking only about the result of the action is a miser, is poor. One who is focus in his action, he does his action 100%, he is free.

See, if you are participating in a running race, you don’t look this side and that side, who is running faster than me, how can I run faster than somebody else. What do you do? You look in your track, you run 100%. When you do your 100%, even if you lose, it gives you relief because you did your maximum. You did your 100%. But if you try to compare yourself, try to give your leg to somebody else and make them fall (laughter), trip somebody. If you try to trip somebody, you are going to trip yourself. That is not winning the race. Even by tripping somebody you win, it is really a loss. So, you focus yourself 100%, you did your 100% that brings you satisfaction “I did all that I could do, I am free.” There is no competition. If at all it is a competition, it’s only with yourself – how you did yesterday and how well you can do today. Competing with yourself, you grow. When you try to compete with others, you become weaker. It will bring your weakness. I am saying that you should be blind when you come to your profession. You keep your eyes open and learn from everywhere but you focus. That’s Buddhi Yoga.  buddhau saranam anviccha
kripanah phala-hetavah  2.49  Being centered and move on in your life.

If you are not united with your Self, neither your intellect will be bright or brilliant nor your emotion is enriched. And when emotionally you are not at peace, how there can be happiness in your life? When there is no peace, there can be no happiness. asantasya kutah sukham  2.66  When you are disturbed, when there is no peace in you, there can not be happiness.

“So, Arjuna gets back to your Self. Have everything together, have your mind, body, emotion, intellect, everything together. Wake up!” Then He describes how there are people, you go around you will see many people say “This is the final truth. I am giving you the final truth and this is the only way to heaven. There is nothing beyond this.” These type of sermons, there used to be perhad evangelists those day as well who would say “This book is the final book. This has all the secret, all the truth and talk and talk and talk and talk...” Not have the compassion to guide people in the truth. So, here Krishna says “Beware of all these people! Beware of all these things! These are the things which are not going to lead you to the freedom that you want, that you are looking for.”  kamat krodho  2.62  It creates a lot of desires in you. More miracles, more desires are created in you. And the desires bring along anger; and anger brings delusion. Delusion makes you forget the truth, the reality.  buddhi-nasat pranasyati  2.63  And it destroys one completely, mind, intellect, everything is destroyed.

nasti buddhir ayuktasya  na cayuktasya bhavana  2.66  One who is not connected with the spirit, will not center, even his feeling is as good as dead or in a mess. The feeling is not clear. He doesn’t know whether he is feeling love or hatred or fear or anxiety. What is happening is all in confusion.  na cabhavayatah shantir  asantasya kutah sukham  2.66  How can there be happiness when the feeling and intellect are all muddled up. So, get centered. Wake up now! Get centered! He says that is Samadhi, that is the enlightenment.  sthita-prajnasya  2.54  That is when you are in equanimity.

So, now Arjuna asks Sri Krishna “Who is this sthita-prajnasya  2.54  ? Who can be that? How do you put on the signs of centered and stabilised personality?” then Sri Krishna goes on explaining what is samadhi. 

prajahati yada kaman  sarvan partha mano-gatan  atmany evatmana tustah  sthita-prajnas tadocyate  2.55

One who has overcome all his desires  prajahati yada  one who has just dropped all the desires.  sarvan partha mano-gatan  It’s natural that the mind harbors desires. Desires don’t ask your permission, it just drops in and they stay. When they drop in and they stay that’s when they create trouble for you. When they drop in, you see them off, that’s what  prajahati yada kaman  sarvan partha mano-gatan  If they don’t come at all, there is nothing you could get rid of, you can see them off. Here very clearly says “Say goodbye to the desires that keep arising in your mind.” To say goodbye which means it has come. They come and you say goodbye to them.  prajahati yada kaman  sarvan partha mano-gatan  atmany evatmana tustah 

One who is satisfied, content with oneself, he is the one who is centered, who is enlightened. One who is not locking onto the desires and not crying about them, it just takes them as they come and says “Ok, fine, goodbye.” Are you with me here? You know, in life “I shouldn’t get any desire...” is also another desire. (laughter) You can go on that trip “Oh, I want to get rid of all my desires.”

You know, the ancient saints, gurus, rishis, maharishis, what they used to say “When sunlight comes, a candle has no meaning. You don’t have to blow the candle, just bring in the sunlight, the candle will lose its significance by itself.” Similarly, if you have a greater vision in the mind, these small desires will lose their significance. When they lose their significance, it is as good as you say goodbye to them. You have said goodbye to them because they have no more significance to you. A small tiny dust particle can cover the vision of a vast sky when they just fall on your eyes. You are looking at the infinite sky, a speck of dust can blur your vision. It will obstruct you from vision of the infinite sky.

Same with small thing can become an irritant in your mind. See, when you sit for meditation, just a small desire suppose you keep, “I should get up and switch off the stove or I should switch off the washing machine.” (laughter) the entire time you are sitting in meditation for one hour, “I should switch off...” that little thought irritates you. How many of you have experienced this? You know it is utterly insignificant, it’s a useless thing, anyways when you wake up after meditation also you can switch off the washing machine, the dryer. These little things, it need not be a very important thing.

See, we don’t desire the highest in our life that we have to let go of it. What we desire is really a phone call to somebody or a compliment from somebody or making some misunderstandings correct or some proper understandings turn it into a misunderstanding. This is all that we are engaged in or thoughts hover around, really unimportant, insignificant things. And they appear very big. This is what is called maya. Maya means a illusion. Things which really do not matter, which you know, start bothering you. How to get over it? That is the whole skill.

prajahati yada kaman  sarvan partha mano-gatan  atmany evatmana tustah  sthita-prajnas tadocyate  2.55

You are satisfaction, nothing can bring you satisfaction. Satisfaction is not a verb, it is a noun. Satisfaction is noun, it’s not verb. It’s not an adjective. It is a noun. You are satisfaction. What can bring satisfaction to satisfaction? Nothing! Impossible. Only nothing can bring satisfaction to satisfaction so do nothing. (laughter) The whole world is moving around to get satisfaction.

The wise man has said about the musk deer. Have you heard about the musk deer? The musk, the perfume comes from deer’s own navel. But when the fragrance comes, musk deer thinks it comes somewhere in the forest and it goes all round the forest looking for it. And it can’t find it because it’s coming from its own body.

You know, dog chews the bones and chewing the bone, they hurts their jaws and they start bleeding. But when they start bleeding, they think that piece of bone is very juicy so they keep biting it even more. Finally they find themselves all bruised. That’s what is happening, your satisfaction anyways you find is coming from the Being.

duhkhesv anudvigna-manah  2.56  Then, He gives the signs of enlightenment. When sorrow falls, he is not disturbed. When joy comes, he is not jumping up and down.  vita-raga-bhaya-krodhah  2.56  Desire, fear, anger just leave them.  sthita-dhir munir ucyate  2.56  That one is really centered and enlightened. That nothing touches him. Fear never comes near. He is not angry at all. Anger never comes. He may show anger here and there but that is much different from really being angry.

yah sarvatranabhisnehas  tat tat prapya subhasubham  nabhinandati na dvesti  tasya prajna pratisthita  2.57  

He doesn’t go and thank somebody “Oh! Thank you so much, thank you so much!” or does not hate anybody. Neither thankfulness nor dislike anybody. He is in that equanimity. Hmm...

How this can be achieved? He says by grace. When you are so lost, your mind is lost, your intellect is lost, you went through the whole drama, circle, what is the way?

prasade sarva-duhkhanam  hanir asyopajayate  prasanna-cetaso hy asu  buddhih paryavatisthate  2.65

Actually it comes little before this, before the signs of enlightenment. How it comes? Grace is important! Grace takes you out of sorrow and misery. Then, your consciousness starts blossoming, flowering, becomes happy, pleasant. When you feel happy, pleasant, your intellect wakes up, gets reformed again. A miserable person can not be high intellectual because its misery has put down his ability to think and understand. Intellect can only wake up when there is certain pleasant feeling, pleasant state that rises up.  prasanna-cetaso  Pleasing consciousness. Pleasant consciousness makes someone more intelligent. You know if you want to make someone more intelligent, first they should meditate then their intelligence comes up, they are happy. Unhappy person does all wrongs. Even the right things, he keeps doing, it becomes wrong. Do you see that? With all good intention, right thing he wants to do, it ends up and being wrong.

prasanna-cetaso hy asu  buddhih paryavatisthate  And He gives all the descriptions of how you can be in equanimous whether you gain or you lose. You know behind every loss there is a gain; behind every gain there is some loss. When you gain some fame, money, somewhere you lose some friends. When you lose some friends, you may gain something else. So, in every gain there is a loss; in every loss there is some gain.

People lose half of the health to gain wealth and they lose half of their wealth to gain back their health. (laughter) In between the half, they lose their whole life. Nothing is achieved in the whole life. They are so miserable. Time is lost, life is lost, what they gain will also be lost.

So, He says “Don’t worry about winning or losing, just do your duty.” If you are so concern about winning, that concern to win makes you weak and a weak person can never win, can never perform well. So, He says “Be center and perform.” Unmindful of (the result).

Now, His strategy has changed. Sri Krishna, before He was poking the ego. He says what will people think of you if you don’t do the right thing. Now, He says don’t bother what others think about you. (laughter) That’s where Gita is a complete scripture in the sense it gives you totally contradictary instructions at every stage. That’s how it’s complete truth because complete truth will lead you, it is never consistent because life can not be consistent. Because life is complex. A complex thing needs to be dealt in a very complex manner. Simple mathematic doesn’t fit there.

So, there He says “Come on, what will people think about you.” Now, He says “Don’t worry about what people think whether you win or lose. You are the boss, why you care. Whether you win or lose, you are still the boss. This is just a game. Wake up and fight.”

So, when a person is depressed, you have to poke his ego. When the ego is pokeed, he is ready to fight. Then, you have to give them the centeredness, make them understand it doesn’t matter even if you lose. “What is important is to act! Come on, act! Your loss is never a loss. Your losing is never a loss.” Then He says:

apuryamanam acala-pratishtham  samudram apah pravishanti yadvat  tadvat kama yam pravishanti sarve  2.70

 “Like all the rivers flow to an ocean which is already full. An ocean does not require any more water to get into in. But the rivers come and flow into it. And by the rivers flowing into it, the ocean water level doesn’t rise up. Does it? Rivers continuously flow into the ocean day and night, does the water level in the ocean rise up? It doesn’t. He says “Similarly one who is settled in oneself, fulfilled, to him, all the desires will flow. Even before you want something, it is already there with you.” This is Siddhi. You know what siddhi is? Siddhi means perfection. Perfection is what? Before you want it, more than what you need, you get all the things. It is not you got nuts when you lost all your teeth. When you have all your teeth, you never got nuts. It’s a proverb in India. “When I have all the teeth, I have no nuts to chew. Now, I got the nuts but have no teeth to chew.” (laughter)

You know, a gentleman got a lottery, he got a million in lottery. Just a day before, he thought if I get a lottery, I want to buy a house. So he went around looking for house. And he found one house which is perfect for him. He thought “This is the perfect house, it’s a dream house. I always want this house.” And it just costed a million and a half. (laughter) He got a million in lottery made him worse. He is so miserable. Here he has money, he just needs a little more. He could bargain and bring it to a million and a quarter but it never goes beyond that. “Another quarter million, oh!” he went to God and complain “You can’t be so cruel to me. If you have given me a quarter more million, I would have fulfulled the dream of my life."

There is a proverb in Bible also “Those who have, more will be given to them; those who do not have, whatever they have will be taken away.”

apuryamanam acala-pratishtham  samudram apah pravishanti yadvat  tadvat kama yam pravishanti sarve  sa shantim apnoti na kama-kami  2.70

One who is galloping on desire and desire, he has no peace. But one who is established in Self, he has no desire. All the desire will flow to him like river flowing to the ocean. He will have no thirst for anything. He gives that promise. Don’t think you have become desireless mean “Oh, will I become very poor?” No, it’s the desires keep you poor. Your poverty is your hankering.  na kama-kami  If you are after desire and desire and desire, clinging onto the desire make you weak and it has made you restless, it has left you without peace. So, like an ocean, you be fulfilled within your Self and you see, just see how all the desires, whatever you need will come to you spontaneously naturally. Like the rivers flowing to the ocean so is your life. This is the Brahman state, my dear Arjuna.