Gita 18.38 Don’t be so caught in choosing the right seat as to fail to choose the right train

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
spiritually conducive ways. Thank you Choosing our brand of poison Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita in 18.38 that the contact of the senses with the sense objects what does it lead to? it may taste like poison, nectar in the beginning in the end, it tastes like poison essentially we are caught in a situation where we are helpless to counter the toxicity of the choices before us suppose somebody were told would you like to be beaten by a stick or by a whip what kind of choice would that be beating is a beating whether by a whip or by a stick so freedom to choose between two forms of suffering is pseudo freedom when we are materially attached and when we are caught suffering in material existence at that time whatever we do under the spell of material desires we simply end up hurting ourselves, whatever we do we’ll only make matters worse for ourselves because life as we know it is temporary and nobody and nothing can actually make it permanent and not only life temporary even the material pleasure that are so aggressively glamorized in life they are also temporary and because they are temporary so we end up suffering when we choose those pleasures because whichever paths we choose it is going to take us off the cliff down to a free fall to disaster and even death suppose we are driving on a high speed and it’s a mountainous area and we have three choices ahead but all three choices are actually leading to dead ends all three choices are leading to taking a car off the mountain off the mountain down a free fall actually no choice is a good choice no choice is a good choice can mean that not making any choice is a good choice or it can also mean that none of the available choices is a good choice so in so this way actually if we consider the point that there is very little that differentiates between one materialistic option and another ultimately every form of material enjoyment leads to misery every form of material enjoyment ends in disaster every form of material enjoyment causes the locking of our consciousness in matter and with our consciousness locked in matter we suffer material misery we suffer old age, disease and death and again the repetition of this cycle so the offering of options is good but when the options are themselves within the scope all the options are within the scope of suffering then those options really are not that meaningful and sometimes when we get too caught between options within the realm of illusion then we overlook the option that takes us out of the realm of illusion that means that means if there had just been two roads one material and one spiritual then we can contemplate ok this is the consequence of this material route this is the consequence of this spiritual route and if our intelligence is calm we would choose the spiritual path but when the option is not between the material and the spiritual rather when our choices are between many material options and the sheer number of material options that we today have are mind boggling then the result is that we get so caught between this option and that option and that option that we end up losing our precious mental energy in trying to choose among various options and none of those options are ultimately they offer us optional consequences the consequences that come from them are mandatory are unavoidable therefore the key thing for us to move onwards in our life is to recognize which choice really matters and which choices really matter and which choices don’t matter all that much when we get the maturity to differentiate then we won’t let ourselves be carried away by choices that are not of that much consequence we will focus on the choices that matter and neglect the choices that don’t matter so much just like suppose a person is boarding a train say a metro or a local about to board and then they see that okay there is a window seat on the left there is a AN seat on the right in this particular row and then there is another window seat on the right and there is a AN seat on the left and suppose they keep standing there unable to decide which seat to take well if the metro ride is going to be say if it’s a train ride that is going to be for say 20 hours, 30 hours, 40 hours then which train to take would make a substantial difference but if the ride is going to be very short if it is going to be primarily a ride which doesn’t take us anywhere substantially if it is a ride which is going to keep us okay that means if it is going to be a short ride then why bother just sit somewhere and move on do something even if it is a little uncomfortable little more comfortable it doesn’t make that much difference on the other hand whether we get in the right train or not if we are on the platform itself and we have to decide which train to take this one or that one and they said two are going in opposite directions one is going to take us towards our destination the other away from our destination then choosing the right train is far more important than choosing the right seat within the train so choosing the right seat is also important but when it comes to a matter of proportion choosing the right train is of a far greater degree of importance suppose while we are on that platform about to choose a train somebody comes and tells come on you know you can sit I’ll offer you a seat would you like to have a window seat on the left or a window seat on the right would you like to have a seat in the in the first class or the business class or whatever now they are all options they are important but if we get so consumed in considering these options that are being marketed to us that we forget to check whether the train within which we are choosing the options is the right train for us and we get into a train we deliberate which seat to take in that train but then we find that the train has taken us to a wrong destination then we end up having wasted our time and energy not only in making choices that didn’t matter but in failing to make the choice that really would have mattered so don’t we shouldn’t get so busy in making choices that don’t matter that we don’t have the mental space or energy left to make the choices that really matter so similarly when our mind gets too consumed by materialistic options should I do this or should I do that should I watch this movie or that movie should I visit this website or that website should I watch this TV channel or that TV channel should I go to this party or that party should I watch this sports or that sports should I play this video game or that video game now all these are options and yes somebody who likes cricket may find watching tennis relatively boring but then if they are so caught in thinking should I watch this should I watch live cricket or should I watch live tennis but in the process they forget that ok they have an exam tomorrow and they have to study for that so that option doesn’t even come in their mind because their mind is so crowded with other options and that is the situation of many people in life today where materialism overloads them with so many options that no matter how seriously they exercise their options should I do this or should I do that but ultimately these options they actually don’t help these options they don’t really solve the problem these options don’t really help us to move closer to closer to lasting happiness they don’t help us to realize the joyfulness that is characteristic of our soul they don’t help us to come closer to Krishna then just accept some option and move on our consciousness gets torn among various options and the more our consciousness gets torn in this way and that way and that way then we are covered over with so many so many illusions illusions that we don’t realize that choosing among those illusions is not going to really help choosing among illusions is pseudo freedom choosing outside illusion is actually freedom choosing the path among various illusions is not freedom choosing the path out of illusion is really freedom so materialism offers us various choices which are of paths within the domain of illusion if we get too consumed by them initially the examples of say free fall from a mountain or a brand of poison they may not register in our consciousness because the consequences of materialism are not seen immediately the consequences of materialism are seen gradually over a period of time when we start practicing bhakti or when at least some level of mode of goodness awakens then we start realizing that we have wasted so much time in inconsequential choices when the consciousness rises upwards or when the body slides downwards then we start recognizing the consequences consciousness rises upwards that means we come to goodness and we rise upwards then the effects of materialism start registering within us or when the body slides downwards that means when we start finding that body is growing old, getting diseased and there is just no alternative there is just nothing we can do to prevent the body sliding down to disaster then we are forced to acknowledge that we have been duped that all the agonizing over choices that we were so busily occupied in made us miss out on something that was a far bigger choice the choice of the choice between illusion and reality the choice not of which kind of bodily consciousness to cultivate but the choice of cultivating some consciousness beyond the bodily that option we never considered because we are so consumed by the possibility by the dream by the fantasy of worldly pleasures so we need to ground ourselves in reality and spiritual wisdom literature like the Bhagavad Gita when we study them such study grounds us it forces us to come back to reality for we recognize that no matter what who does the body no matter what choices we make in terms of what we do at the level of the body ultimately the body is a source of misery and unless we recognize the body’s miserable nature we will not be able to move closer to Krishna we will not be able to move closer towards any any consequential form of fulfillment scriptural wisdom helps us to recognize the futility of various material options no matter how tantalizing the promise of freedom that comes from them it is a freedom that ends in futility and spirituality offers the freedom that ends in futility so this choice is a consequential an extremely consequential choice go beyond the freedom that ends in futility to the freedom that ends in futility in material in the spiritual level of consciousness when we connect with Krishna and we attain Krishna then the futility that dogs all material endeavors ends and we become absorbed in Krishna we attain Krishna such is the nature of this of the enormous benefit that spirituality is going to offer us and therefore choosing to connect with Krishna is the most important choice that we can ever make and yes other choices have their importance and we can give whatever attention is due to them but when we put first things first when we give the maximum necessary attention to the choice of connecting with Krishna other things fall in place and we march ahead towards destination Krishna