In the previous episode, we had witnessed an important application of Bhagawan Krishna’s words on how desires and anger lead to one’s downfall. We’ve witnessed how unfulfilled desires lead one to frustration, which can manifest into the “Rajo Guna” in many forms. In extreme situations, this can also lead to people committing suicides. We’ve witnessed how this unfolds in today’s society as well – For instance, students, who fail to clear the cut-off marks for a medical entrance examination and who have a dire passion for pursuing medical studies end up committing suicides in many cases. This is extremely unfortunate and through this episode, readers (including students) should realize that we should have a balanced approach towards life. Just because one goal doesn’t get fulfilled, this should never signify the end of our life in any way. We should have that grit to move on with our life, no matter how tough the situation might be. This is what we’ve to learn from the Bhagawad Gita.
Moving on further thus, Bhagawan Krishna now explains how the entire cycle of “Kaamam” and “Krodham” manifests. It all starts with our five senses and Bhagawan explains how our five senses will keep running after worldly pleasures. Bhagawan says thus,
“Indriyaani mano buddhihi asya adishtaanamucchyate!
Indriyaani paraan yaahuhu indriyebyah param manaha!!”
Bhagawan says thus, “Oh Arjuna! Please understand – Your senses will keep pulling you towards worldly desires. Wherever there is desire, there is anger, and wherever there is an anger, the root cause of that anger is desire. Your eyes will run after things that appear very beautiful to them. Your nose will run after something that smells very sweet and nice. Your ears will run after something that is very pleasing to hear. Your sense of touch will run after things that are extremely soft and nice to touch and feel. Similarly, your senses will keep running behind each and every worldly pleasure and this will manifest into desire. Here, desire means having more of that experience of touch / view / smell / hearing / taste. Greater the desire, stronger is the urge to experience more of these worldly things. At this point, your mind takes over from the senses. Your mind will act according to the interests of your senses and not in the interests of you! This is where you’ve to be very careful! Oh Arjuna! Please understand that your mind is your biggest enemy in this case – Even if you try and control your mind with a lot of spiritual practices, the moment your senses get exposed to something worldly, your mind will automatically run behind your senses, thereby, all your efforts to control your mind comes to a grinding halt!”
Bhagawan Krishna continues thus, “Oh Arjuna! Hence, the mind is something which is a slave to your senses! Wherever the senses try to run, your mind will also closely follow them! This is the sad reality of life in this world, and not many people understand this fact! The moment your senses and mind start running towards worldly pleasures, “Kaamam” and “Krodham” will unleash their full potential on you, thereby completely derailing you from your spiritual pursuit. This is the trap that this world has laid for all beings. However, there is a solution to it – Your mind should be controlled strongly by your “Buddhi” (Intellect). This Buddhi is controlled by the “Atman” directly! Thus, the “Atman” should be the one which directs the “Buddhi” to think towards Bhagawan constantly and this “Buddhi” should in turn educate the mind and redirect its thoughts towards Bhagawan. In turn, this mind will automatically bring all the five senses under control and it will prevent them from running behind worldly pleasures. If this happens, “Kaamam” and “Krodham” can be kept away!”
We can again construct a flowchart here from whatever Bhagawan has said till now. We can see the structure below as to who controls whom. The span of control is as follows:
[Atman (Soul)] -> [Buddhi (Intellect)] -> [Mind] -> [Our five senses] -> [Control of “Kaamam” & “Krodham”]
Thus, to summarize, the sequence is very clear here – It all starts from “Atman”. The “Atman” controls the “Buddhi”, which in turn controls the mind and this controls the five sense organs from running behind worldly pleasures. If this span of control works efficiently, “Kaamam” and “Krodham” can be kept at bay! So for today, let us understand this span of control clearly and let us try and start implementing it in our daily lives as well. We shall wait till the next episode to continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 