In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna’s clear message of how we make our implementation of His words successful and continuous. Bhagawan talks about two important factors that we should take care of in this process precisely – First is “Kaamam” (Desire) and “Krodham” (Anger), which in turn give rise to the “Rajo Guna” that spoils everything and puts us completely off track! Arjuna is trying to fall into this trap and Bhagawan is hand-holding him and trying to prevent him from falling into this trap. We’ve seen the case of how this is applicable in the case of Arjuna, but this is something which is extremely applicable in the case of all of us as well! We shall see a simple application of this philosophy in our modern-day context before we move on with the next shloka.
Now we might be wondering how exactly this works. Imagine that we’re aspiring to become a doctor (medical practitioner) ever since childhood. I’m sure many of us might have had this passion since early days – Some of us might have succeeded whereas many of us might have failed in our pursuit. Let us take this example to understand Bhagawan Krishna’s point. Of course, all of us would have put in enormous effort to clear the board examinations and subsequently the medical entrance test(s) to secure a seat in a prestigious medical college. Putting an effort sincerely towards a goal is not wrong, but the problem here is that we get too obsessed with it! If we’re getting obsessed with the end goal, it transforms into a desire. We start imagining ourselves to be a medical practitioner in the future and with this imagination, we pursue our studies all throughout. However, when the results are out, and when we fail to clear the medical entrance test, what will be our mindset? Many of us get extremely dejected and start feeling that this is the end of our life completely, don’t we? This is what Bhagawan Krishna is warning us about! The moment we fail to secure the required cut-off mark in the entrance test, how many of us have the maturity to think of moving on with the next option in life? It is quite sad and unfortunate that many students even go to the extent of committing suicides, just because they’ve not cleared the cut-off mark in the medical entrance test!
Now, this is where Bhagawan’s words are coming true – Aiming for a medical seat with a lot of passion is fine. But when this aim manifests itself into a desire, and if we’re unable to fulfil this desire, it manifests into the next level, which is frustration within ourselves! Moreover, if our close friends and relatives start treating this as a talking point and if they start making fun of us for not getting a medical seat, this frustration manifests into anger! With this anger, our “Rajo Guna” grows. If our “Rajo Guna” starts growing, our mind fails to think properly and make correct decisions! Once the mind ceases to make correct decisions, we end up making erroneous and momentous decisions, wherein committing a suicide is also part of it! Now if we start to understand where it started and where it came to an end, we will be able to appreciate Bhagawan Krishna’s golden words of wisdom!
Hence the point is very clear, and for further easy understanding, I’m presenting the following flow diagram:
Stage 1: Passion (If uncontrolled / unchecked) -> Desire (Kaamam)
Stage 2: Desire (If fulfilled) -> More desires
Stage 3: Desire (If unfulfilled) -> Frustration -> Anger (“Krodham”) -> Reduced functioning of mind -> Erroneous decisions (Including suicides)
So for today, let us understand this point very clearly and we shall wait till the next episode to continue further with this discussion! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 