251. Me-Mine; You-Yours

 

Krishna says, "The one who attained perfection (of freedom from karma) can also attain Brahman (the eternal). Learn from me this supreme state of knowledge" (18.50). This is a continuation of what Krishna earlier explained about 'freedom from karma' which can be attained through non-attached intellect, conquering self and dropping desires (18.49).

Krishna says, "Endued with purified intellect, having conquered self through firmness, forsaking sound and other sense entanglements, abandoning attachment and hatred (18.51); Dwelling in solitude, eating lightly, speech, body and mind subdued, ever engaged in yoga of meditation, taking refuge in vairagyam (dispassion) (18.52); Freed from ahankaar (egoism), power, arrogance, desire, anger, greed, notion of 'me and mine' and being peaceful, one is fit for Brahman (the eternal)" (18.53).

Dwelling in solitude is the ability to detach oneself even in a crowd. Krishna gave an example of a lotus leaf that doesn't get attached to water even while being submerged in water. It's possessing a subdued mind and controlled speech even in adverse circumstances. Similarly, forsaking sound and other sense entanglements doesn't mean that we run away from them. Krishna gave the example of the ocean which is not affected by merging rivers -rivers of sensual entanglements. Together, this is nothing but vairagyam (dispassion).

Bhagavad Gita is a manual to overcome ahankaar (aham-karta or sense of doer ship) that keeps us separate from 'the eternal' in every possible way. Similarly, the divisive notion of 'me and mine' consequently causes the notion of 'you and yours'. Though this division looks logical at the ignorance level but key is the realisation that this division brings misery and prevents us from having the joy of the eternal. That's the reason why Krishna encourages us to free ourselves from ahankaar as well as from the notion of 'me and mine'.


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