The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita-Chapter-2.8 : Swami Krishnananda

12/06/2019
Chapter 2: The Battlefield of Life -8.

The whole teaching of the Gita is centred on balance, equanimity, a putting in order of everything that is not in order—samatva. Things do not appear to be in order or in a state of harmony because of a preponderance of this externalising power, known as rajas. There is struggle everywhere, in everything, at all times, a struggle to maintain a balance. All struggle is an effort towards the maintenance of equilibrium in any field of life, in any plane of existence. The laws of various types—the governmental law, the social law, the communal law, the family law and various other systems of management—signify one and the same thing, namely, the necessity to maintain harmony, and it has to be maintained everywhere, in every walk of life, in any given moment of time. If there is a lack of balance anywhere, in any part of our body, for instance, or in any part of human society, there is then an anxiety creeping into our experience, at once. We are unhappy if there is a little thorn pricking the sole of our foot, and our joy goes away in a second. If there is some intractable element in society, which is disturbing the peace of the minds of people, we are obliged to be conscious of its existence and are also compelled to see what means can be adopted in setting right the situation. Even a single incoherent element is sufficient to disturb the entire balance, just as an earache is enough to make us grieve the whole day. The point is that there should not be any occasion for misbalance even in the slightest manner, and the whole of Yoga is a comprehensive approach to the situation of cosmic conflict which sympathetically reflects itself in every individual, also.

That conflict there is, is obvious enough. We all know that the world is wretched. We complain about the world every day that it is stupid and it is going to the dogs. We are very much concerned about the future, but we are not fully awakened to the needs of the hour, the means that are to be employed, and the way we have to conduct ourselves under such circumstances. We are not in a state of Yoga. We only perceive things as they happen outwardly in the world of space and time. We are sense-ridden, entangled completely in the perceptions of the senses. We are living in a sense-world and we are wholly relying upon the reports of the senses. We do not exercise our reason and understanding to the extent necessary to counterbalance the distracting reports that we receive from the senses. Our reason is not equally strong, our understanding is feeble, but the senses are vigorous, they are impetuous. So low we are in the cadre of creation; we have fallen very low indeed, while the senses are active and rebellious, the organising power in us, the understanding, is not equally powerful. One can imagine the state of affairs if individuals who rebel are stronger than the organising power of a government. This is what has happened to us. The organising power in us, called reason and understanding, is not able to cope up with the situation of conflict that is presented before us in experience by the senses that work in terms of the objects outside. We are slaves of the senses, and not their masters. We stoop down every moment to the level of the demand of a particular sense organ; and this cannot be regarded as freedom of any kind. Whatever the senses say is acquiesced to by our reason and understanding, by our knowledge and education, by our culture; and everything that we have is a subsidiary stooge, as it were, to these revolting dacoits called the senses. The Bhagavadgita does not want this circumstance to continue.

To be continued ..