100. Witnessing Sense-Objects

In our daily life, we receive various stimuli through our senses and keep responding to them. In this context, Krishna says that the knower of truth, united with self, thinks that “I do nothing at all even while I see, hear, touch, smell, eat, walk, sleep, breath (5.8) - talk, evaluate and accept. The senses move among sense-objects” (5.9). In this existential verse, Krishna is describing the peak experience of the knower of truth. Secondly, these verses are very easy to understand but very difficult to inculcate as they require subjugation of senses which are powerful.

For example, we regularly experience emotions arising out of praise and criticism. Praise makes us forget ourselves like the proverbial crow dropping its meat upon hearing praise from the fox about its singing ability. Similarly, when criticized, our response varies from silence to verbal to physical depending on the degree of criticism and the strength of the critic. We take these stimuli to be true and begin to identify with them. This is nothing but the misery we see all around us.

Our sense organs are like modern day electronic instruments which automatically respond to external stimuli like the ears to sounds and the eyes to light. This quality is essential for survival. Living in ignorance is being reactive where responses to external stimuli are mechanical. However, with awareness we can control our response by realising that senses are mechanically drawn towards sense-objects. This is being proactive.

The obstacle is our identification with stimuli like praise and criticism, which create scars of karma bandhan (bondage of action) lasting for an entire lifetime. Hence, Krishna advises us to realise that senses are mechanically interacting with sense-objects, and ‘I’ do nothing at all. This realisation is nothing but transcending from karta (doer) to sakshi (witness).