41. Labelling Vanishes in Yoga

 


Our lives revolve around labelling our deeds and decisions as well as those of others as good or bad. Krishna says that endowed with intellect, one sheds both good and bad deeds (2.50), which implies that labelling vanishes once we attain yoga - yoga being equanimous or being in the middle. We will be able to perceive things as they are without our own judgements.

Moralistic discourses guide us to avoid bad deeds and cultivate good deeds, which is undoubtedly helpful in the early stages of the spiritual journey. However, Krishna points out that one who is endowed with true wisdom ultimately transcends both good and bad deeds. Even good deeds can subtly strengthen ahankaar (aham-karta, I am doer), as a person may begin to feel superior to those who perform bad deeds. At a later stage of the spiritual path, this sense of superiority can become a significant obstacle. Therefore, the real focus should be on understanding and transcending the divisive mind that constantly labels actions as good or bad.

From childhood onward, we are conditioned by our parents, family, friends, society, and later by the laws of the land. This conditioning shapes the mind in such a way that it begins to divide and label actions as good or bad. In the state of yoga, this division gradually dissolves, and the tendency to label disappears. In essence, this is the breaking of the neural patterns that sustain these divisions in the mind.

In the practical world, this labelling makes us myopic and less open, thereby denying us crucial information needed for taking decisions. In management terms, any deed done or a decision taken with insufficient or misinterpreted data is bound to fail.

When someone attains even a momentary state of yoga whatever karma flows out of them is harmonious- be it words or deeds. To put spirituality in a statistical sense, it is the percentage of time or moments where one remains in balance and the journey is about increasing it to a hundred percent.


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