Gita Acharan

V icious and virtuous cycles are a sequence of events where one event leads to another and results in either disaster or joy respectively. If expenses are more than income, leading to borrowing and a debt trap, it’s a vicious cycle. If expenses are less than income, resulting in savings and wealth creation, it’s a virtuous cycle. Krishna refers to these cycles in verses 2.62 to 2.64. Krishna says, “A person musing on objects develops an attachment to them, from attachment arises desire, from (non-fulfilment of) desire arises anger, from anger arises delusion, from delusion - confusion of memory, from confusion of memory - loss of intellect and from loss of intellect the individual perishes” (2.62-2.63). This is the vicious cycle of downfall. On the other hand, Krishna says that when one is free of raag (fondness), dwesh (hatred) and has his indriyas (senses) under control, one attains peace even while moving among sense-objects (2.64). This is nothing but a virtuous cy...

K rishna cautions Arjuna that indriyas (senses) are capable of forcibly carrying away the mind of even an aspiring wise person (2.60). This verse is about the automaticity of indriyas to stimuli. The best example is of a smoker who’s quite aware of the pitfalls of smoking but finds it extremely difficult to quit it. He laments that by the time he realises, the cigarette is already lit. Anyone who is involved in a road rage or a crime vouches that it happened in the heat of the moment but not consciously. The same is the case with someone who speaks harsh words at the workplace or in the family and keeps regretting them as they weren’t intended in the first place. These instances imply that indriyas take over us and bind us in karma bandhan (bondage of action). During our formative years, free neurons in the brain form neural connections called hardwiring. This takes care of automatic activities like walking as it saves a lot of energy for the brain. The same is the ca...

K rishna says, “Sense-objects fall away from the abstinent person, but not ras (longing) and longing ceases only when one realises the supreme” (2.59). Indriyas have a physical instrument and a controller. The mind is the combination of controllers of all sense organs. Krishna advises us to focus on the controller part which sustains the longing. Krishna uses the word ‘ ras ’ whose literal meaning is juice. When a ripened fruit is cut, ‘ ras ’ is not visible unless it is squeezed. The same is the case with butter in milk. ‘ Ras ’ is the intrinsic longing that exists in indriyas . At an ignorant level, indriyas are attached to the sense-objects and keep swinging between polarities of pain and pleasure. In the next stage, the sense-objects get detached due to external circumstances, but the longing remains. For example, on a doctor’s advice we may stop eating sweets or consume alcohol, but the longing for sweets or alcohol remains. External circumstances may include mor...

K rishna says that wisdom gets established when one completely withdraws their indriyas (senses) from sense-objects, like the tortoise withdrawing its limbs (2.58). This is continuation of the emphasis on controlling the senses, and this verse offers practical advice. Krishna lays emphasis on indriyas as they are the gateways between our inner self and the outer world. He advises that we should withdraw our indriyas when we see ourselves getting attached to sense-objects like the metaphorical tortoise withdrawing its limbs when faced with danger. Each sense has two parts. One is the sense instrument like an eyeball and the second, that part of the brain (controller) which controls this eyeball. Sensory interactions happen at two levels. One is between the ever-changing outer world of sense-objects and the sense instrument like the eyeball. This is purely automatic where photons reach the eyeball and interact as per their physical properties. The second is between th...

W e tend to perceive a situation, a person or an outcome of a deed as good or bad. There is a third option of remaining neutral. Krishna refers to this third state and says that a wise person is one who isn’t filled with joy when coming across good nor does he hate bad and is always without attachment (2.57). This extends Krishna’s teaching that one endowed with intellect sheds both good and bad deeds (2.50). The indication is that the sthita-prajna (one with coherent intellect) drops labelling and takes facts as facts without any extrapolation, as labelling is the birthplace for polarities of pain and pleasure. This verse is tough to understand as it runs contrary to our tendency of instantly labelling situations as good or bad. Aversion and hatred automatically follow when one encounters a situation or a person labelled as bad. On the other hand, the sthita-prajna doesn’t label it and hence the question of hating doesn’t arise for them. Similarly, when coming across goo...

K rishna says that sthita-prajna is neither excited by sukh (pleasure) nor agitated by dukh (pain), is free from raag (attachment), bhay (fear) and krodh (anger) (2.56). This is an extension of 2.38 where Krishna tells us to treat sukh (pleasure) and dukh (pain); labh (gain) and hani (loss); and jaya (victory) and parajay (defeat) with equipoise. Krishna places great importance on freedom from agitation, saying that the devotee who neither agitates the world nor becomes agitated by it is dear to Him (12.15). All of us seek sukh but dukh invariably comes in our lives as both exist in pairs of dwandwa (polarity). This is like bait to fish where the hook is hidden behind the bait. Sthita-prajna transcends these polarities and attains dwandwa-atheeth . It’s pure awareness that when we seek one, the other is bound to follow - maybe in a different shape and after a lapse of time. When we get sukh with our planning, ahankaar gets elated. However, when dukh follows sukh...

K rishna says in response to Arjuna’s query, sthita-prajna (one with coherent intellect or stoic) is content with self (2.55). Interestingly, Krishna didn’t respond to the second part of Arjuna’s query as to how a sthita-prajna speaks, sits and walks. ‘Content with self’ is an inner state and cannot be judged by external behaviour. Maybe, in the given circumstances, both an ignorant person and a sthita-prajna might speak the same words, might sit and walk in the same manner. This further complicates our understanding of sthita-prajna . Krishna’s life is the best example of a sthita-prajna’s life. One should read epic Mahabharata and Srimad Bhagavatam to understand Krishna’s life. He was separated from his parents at birth. He was known as ‘ makhan chor ’ (butter thief). His romance, dance and flute are legendary, but when he left Vrindavan he never came back seeking romance. He fought and killed when needed, but avoided war at times and was hence known as ‘ran-chod-...