In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna concluding the fifth “Adhyaaya” with a beautiful explanation on the point of “Souhaardham” and how He follows it meticulously towards all living beings in this world equally. Basically, “Souhaardham”, as we’ve seen yesterday, means “Thinking good for all living beings at all times”. We’ve also witnessed how this “Souhaardham” has gone down in the present day, wherein jealousy, anger, frustration, ego, etc. start dominating us at several points in time. This makes us feel that we’re far superior than others and as a result, we tend to discard others with a pinch of salt. Such an attitude should be avoided and as ardent “Bhaktas” of Bhagawan Krishna, we’ve to implement this meticulously, both in our personal and professional spaces.
With this, we now move from the “Sanyaasa Yoga” to the “Vibhooti Yoga” which is the sixth “Adhyaaya” of the Bhagawad Gita. Here, Bhagawan is going to teach Arjuna as to how to practise “Karma Yoga” in reality. In the previous “Adhyaaya” we’ve seen Bhagawan emphasizing once again to Arjuna that nobody can escape “Karma Yoga” and it is mandatory for everyone. Going into “Karma-Sanyaasa” merely signifies escapism, which is not warranted at all in this world. As we move further from here, Arjuna is asking Bhagawan Krishna as to how to put this “Karma Yoga” to practice, despite having enormous challenges in performing it meticulously. Bhagawan now talks about how to use the “mind” (“Manas”) to uplift the “Atman”. He says thus,
“Uddaredaatmanaatmaanam aatmaanam avasaadayeth!
Aatmaivahyaatmano banduhu aatmaiva ripuraatmanaha!!”
This is once again a very important shloka here, which signifies the “Manas” and how we should employ the “Manas” in uplifting our “Atman”. Bhagawan Krishna says thus, “Oh Arjuna! The main aim of performing your “Karma Yoga” is to uplift your “Atman”. For this, your mind plays a very important role. Just like how we have a bucket tied to a rope and a pulley of a well to fetch water, our “Manas” (mind) is the one that is tying the “Atman”. Just like how you use the rope and the pulley to lift the bucket full of water slowly, you should use your “Manas” to uplift your “Atman”, and there’s no other option that is there apart from this. For this, if I’ve to talk about the role of the mind, a focussed mind is essential to accomplish whatever I’m saying. A mind which is completely focused on its agenda of “Atman-Upliftment” will be your best friend. Whereas, a mind which is wandering here and there without any control will be your Atman’s biggest enemy!”
Now this is an extremely important point for us to understand. Bhagawan Krishna has cryptically told us how important is the role of mind here in performing our “Karma”. When we talk about a “focussed mind”, it means a mind which is completely “detached” from worldly affairs and is completely able to concentrate on the actions that we perform. A focused mind is something which always has Bhagawan as it’s top priority and everything else comes second. However, on the contrary, a mind that is not focused enough will lead us into the trap of worldly affairs and once trapped, it is very difficult for us to come out of them! This is where, Bhagawan Krishna is warning Arjuna not to get into this vicious trap. So for today, let us start pondering over this important point and in the next episode, we shall continue having a detailed discussion on this point with some modern-day applications to it. Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 