Gita 13.09 To cultivate detachment from matter, contemplate the distresses of material existence

Transcript

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they have internalized knowledge.
Thank you. Bhagavad Gita 13.9 So here Krishna is saying that as far as the senses are concerned one can be detached from the senses. So Indriyaartheshu.
So the way we become detached from our senses is by focusing on some higher reality and that Krishna will talk a little bit later when he will say that Indriyaartheshu vairagyam anahankara evacha. Anahankara is detachment. So detachment from the ego.
Now the previous let’s talk about say Thairyam Atma Vinigraha that steadiness and self-restraint. Now there are many aspects of self-restraint. One aspect is of course detachment from sense objects.
Now vairagyam. There is vinigraha and there is vairagyam. Vinigraha means that there are nigraha means control or discipline or restraint.
That means there are inimical forces that take our consciousness away from the world that are resisting but we are able to overcome them. Whereas vairagyam means that actually there is no battle. That one has become emotionally uninvolved.
One has become detached. That means there is restraint and there is renunciation and then there is detachment. So restraint means one curbs whatever desires one has.
Renunciation means one gives up the sense objects and detachment means one has no one actually is not having that agitating desire within oneself. So as we become knowledgeable we understand that ultimately Krishna is the source of the supreme happiness and thus if we want to be happy we need to move towards Krishna. We need to attain Krishna.
We don’t need anything else in life. So indriyarthesh vairagyam anahankara evacha. We become experience gratification, satisfaction in our relationship with Krishna and that experience of satisfaction in our relationship with Krishna enables us to resist the world’s pulls.
Resist the pulls of the sense objects. So indriyarthesh vairagyam anahankara evacha. Anahankara.
Earlier Krishna has talked about amaritu vadambitvam. Here he talks about anahankara. To some extent there is repetition of the qualities in a broad sense but in specific sense there is a difference.
We discussed about not seeking on or not showing off especially when one does not have anahankara means one actually does not have one is free from false ego. So the way to cultivate anahankara is to have true ankara. To recognize that I am a servant of Krishna and actually we seek joy, we seek fulfillment, we seek satisfaction in our service to Krishna.
Instead of seeking it in anything else of this world we seek it in remembrance of Krishna in service to Krishna. Anahankara evacham. And related to these two is the quality that is mentioned next.
In many places the qualities are mentioned in surprise two, three, four qualities are mentioned in one line often three qualities here. One quality is mentioned in two lines that is janmartyu jaravyadi dukkha-dosha-anudarshanam. One sees that in this world there is dukkha-dosham that is misery and this misery constitutes a flaw anudarshanam.
One sees anudarshanam means to see carefully, to see and comprehend you know actually we all the sight of death needs to transform into an insight of immortality of our own mortality. That is what anudarshanam is all about. In a sense we death is there all around us.
We hear news about people dying, we see our relatives also die. So death itself is not that way something unheard of. We keep hearing about it but somehow that knowledge that death is going to come and we also at one level understand that I am going to die but somehow we think that my death is very far away.
Oh it’s a long long time I have I have time to live over here. So anudarshanam means one sees and what one sees with one’s eyes one contemplates with one’s head and then that insight enters into one’s to see systematically. We see with the eye of scripture because scripture enables us to really connect what to connect our vision with a broader understanding which which with a broader world view that helps us to understand coherently.
So here Krishna is stating that janma-mrtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣa-anudarshanam So when we understand that actually everything in this world is temporary no matter what I achieve none of it is going to last. So thereafter we become detached. We don’t stay so captivated by the world’s promises of pleasure.
We understand that okay whatever I have it’s all going to end. So what is there to be so excited about? What is there to be so agitated about? Why am I so worked up about things? Why am I getting so excited sensually or proud egoistically about these things? They are all temporary. So we may have knowledge about many things.
Now usually knowledge is of value. At the same time the value of knowledge depends on our capability to use that knowledge. Now if somebody is a doctor, has studied medicine but then that person says oh I don’t remember anything about medicine then that person cannot treat that person cannot that knowledge is there but of what uses the knowledge practically that person cannot diagnose that person cannot prescribe.
So knowledge has to be usable for whatever purpose. So we may have knowledge of art um that may not be financially cashable we’re not talking only in terms of usability in terms of cashability of the knowledge. Cashability means to transform into cash but we’re talking about it that for whatever purpose and knowledge it has to be used if I have knowledge about oh this this color goes well with this color this color doesn’t go with this color that I can I should use that and paint something.
So if the knowledge is not being used if I’m artist and if I have knowledge of art then by through art actually I can become absorbed I can I can at least myself become constructively engaged and absorbed if not also do something constructive for others. Now in this case when we talk about um the the capacity of knowledge to help us grow then it is when we internalize apply use that knowledge but similarly the knowledge of our mortality knowledge of death’s inevitability knowledge of even before death there is old age which is which is which causes a lot of misery there are diseases which cause a lot of misery of course birth itself is a distressing process so when we understand this then we seek shelter of Krishna we seek absorption in Krishna and by that absorption Krishna we move closer to him we become we raise our consciousness to the spiritual level and in our consciousness rising to the spiritual level we gain the ultimate happiness. So for us as souls it is vital that we recognize the greatness of what of the danger coming before us and deal with it appropriately.
So death is the ultimate danger and it’s a disaster that is going to come for all of us and the way to deal with it is to realize and relish our spiritual nature and that Krishna will talk about in the next verse next two verses in fact the whole Bhagavad Gita talks about our spiritual nature but in the context of this verse detachment from detachment from sense objects and giving up of false ego makes eminent sense when we understand our mortality when we perceive the nature of world with unsentimental eye we take a hard look at the world see the unavoidable distresses of birth old age disease and death and thereby recognize that we need to become disentangle our consciousness on the material level and explore a higher level of reality. So the ego and the sense objects are what keep our consciousness at the material level and we can raise our consciousness above that through the process of yoga given in the Bhagavad Gita which will be mentioned in the future verses. Thank you.
Bhagavad Gita 13.10