40. Intellect for Internal Travel

 


Yoga means the union of the outer self with the inner self. It can be attained through various paths such as karma (action), bhakti (devotion), sankhya (awareness), buddhi (intellect), abhyaas (practice) etc. According to one’s inherent nature, one reaches yoga through the path appropriate to them.

Krishna tells Arjuna to seek refuge in buddhi as motivated karma is far inferior to buddhi yoga and miserable are they whose motive is to obtain the fruits of action (2.49). Earlier, Krishna said that in karma yoga, the buddhi is coherent and the intellect of those who are irresolute is bahu-shakha (many-branched) (2.41).

Just as a magnifying glass focuses light, when buddhi attains coherence, it becomes capable of undertaking the spiritual journey, which is otherwise considered difficult. Any travel involves direction and speed. Krishna’s reference to buddhi yoga here is about the direction of the journey towards the eternal state of the inner self. Usually, we use coherent intellect to fulfil our desires in the material world. This verse indicates that we should use it to pursue our journey towards the self.

The first signs of using coherent intellect for internal journey appear when we start questioning everything like our deep-rooted beliefs, emotions, assumptions, thoughts, actions and even the words we speak. Just as science uses questioning to push the frontiers of knowledge, the same spirit of questioning leads us to uncover the supreme truth. Krishna advices us to develop the quality of questioning on the journey towards eternal state of inner self (4.34).

Krishna goes on to say that those driven by the desire for the fruits of action inevitably live in misery. We develop this tendency as we experience pleasure when we attain the desired fruits of our actions. But in a polar world, every pleasure turns into pain in due course of time which increases our misery.

Krishna nowhere promises to shield us from polarities but tells us to use intellect (buddhi) to transcend them to be atma-vaan (established in self). It is neither knowing nor doing, just ‘being’.


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