Gita Acharan

K rishna says that the mind, which follows roving senses, carries away one’s intellect as the wind carries away the boat on the water (2.67). The wind is a metaphor for our desires which drives our mind as well as senses, thus making the intellect (boat) unstable. In the context of desires, life is divided into four stages namely Brahmacharya (bachelor), Grihasth (householder), Vanaprastha (facing forest) and Sannyas (renunciation) where divisions aren’t just based on age but also on the intensity of living. The first stage includes growing up, gathering theoretical knowledge, acquiring some basic skills and developing physical strength. In the second stage, it’s family, work, refining skills, gathering possessions and memories. This also includes exposure to various facets of life and gaining life experiences through pursuing passions and desires either with success or failure. Through this process, one attains a cocktail of knowledge, skill and life experiences whi...

K rishna says that the ‘ ayukta ’ (imbalanced) lacks both buddhi (intellect) and bhaav (emotions) and as a result, he will not get ‘shanti’ (peace) and there is no joy for the peaceless (2.66). Krishna lays emphasis on equanimity (2.38 and 2.48) and this verse highlights the same from a different angle. Till we learn to centre ourselves in the ‘middle’, we are likely to anchor ourselves at one of the ‘other’ centres like friends, enemy, work, spouse, children, money, pleasure, power, possessions etc. and this anchoring is the hallmark of the ayukta . If someone is centred on money, all his plans and actions revolve around maximizing wealth at the cost of all other things like relationships, health etc. One doesn’t hesitate to deceive, cheat or do anything to attain pleasure if one is pleasure centric. A spouse-oriented person evaluates the entire world as to how their spouse is treated. One can also be enemy centred, thinking about how to harm their enemies even if it ...

K rishna says that the intellect of the contented is steady and all their dukh (sorrows) are destroyed (2.65). Firstly, Sorrow is the result of an oscillating intellect, and when the intellect is steady, sorrow disappears. Secondly, this verse runs contrary to our belief that we become content once our desires are fulfilled, once we attain sukh and once dukh is destroyed. But Krishna says we just need to be content first and that the rest will automatically follow. For example, we conclude that we are not healthy if we have symptoms like fever, aches etc. The suppression of these symptoms won’t make us healthy unless the underlying condition is treated. On the other hand, a nutritious diet, good sleep, fitness regime etc. provide us with good health. Similarly, bhay (fear), krodh (anger) and dwesh (hatred) are indications of a lack of contentment and their suppression won’t automatically make us content. Numerous quick fixes are promoted and practiced to suppress...