198. Castles in the Air




Krishna says, “Whatever being is born, moving or unmoving, know that to be the union of kshetra (field) and kshetrajna (knower of field) (13.27). He truly sees who perceives Parameshwar (supreme Lord) present equally in all beings as the imperishable among the perishable” (13.28). A similar description was given by Krishna where he described ‘sat’ as eternal (imperishable) and ‘asat’ as the one which wasn’t there in the past and which wouldn’t be there in the future (perishable) (2.16); and advised us to differentiate between them.

Everything we see around us is perishable. Krishna says there is imperishable behind this perishable. Instead of getting deeper into perishability to discover the imperishable, we tend to build our lives around the perishable. It is like building castles in the air. Our efforts to bring permanence or certainty to the perishable are bound to end in misery. Krishna described such a situation as the destruction of self by self and gave a solution to realise the omnipresence of the Lord to reach the Supreme Goal (13.29). It’s about developing the habit of looking at the perishable (change) as a sakshi (witness) without getting attached or detached; to live in harmony with the change without resistance or fight.

Krishna further says, “He who sees all actions are performed by prakriti (nature) alone and also the Self as non-executor, he sees” (13.30). In the perishable world, there is hardly any place for us to be a karta (doer).

At regular intervals, it is explained in the Gita that we are not karta (doer) of action. The combination of the three gunas borne out of prakriti and their interaction is responsible for the action we see around us. The deeper this becomes inculcated in us through our life experiences, the more peaceful we become.


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