Gita 13.33 The soul is not entangled, but the mind is

Transcript

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thank you yatha sarvagatam saukshmyad akashinopalipite sarvatra avasthito dehe tathatmanopalipite here Krishna is explaining how the soul functions in the body yatha sarvagatam saukshmyad that actually the soul how does it relate with the body we could say the sky or the ether it pervades all of all of existence but doesn’t interact with it because it is subtler doesn’t get mixed with it, doesn’t get contaminated with it similarly tathatmanopalipite the soul doesn’t get entangled similarly the point of the example is to stress the soul’s transcendence the soul is not material the soul is spiritual, being spiritual the soul exists separate from the body so even when the soul is an ant’s body or a dog’s body or any other body the point remains that actually the soul is not there for the body to do anything about the soul is simply the soul simply functions based on the body in the sense that the soul talks in a human body like a human being, the soul barks like a dog in a dog’s body so in that sense some of us may feel that the soul is affected but actually the soul is not affected, it is the soul’s mechanism for interacting with the body that is the mind that is shaped or changed the mind is pure, the mind is not spiritual it is material and the mind works at different levels in different ways for purifying us the mind works for elevating the soul’s consciousness if the mind is directed towards Krishna, but by default the mind works for sense gratification the mind works for dragging the soul down to mundane consciousness because by its very nature in the condition stage, the mind is attached to worldly objects Krishna has talked about this earlier in the 6th chapter, 5th and 6th verses, when he has talked about how that one should elevate the mind elevate the self with the mind and not degrade the self with the mind the self is the friend of the self and self is also the enemy of the self so this means that actually we as souls are not primarily spiritual, that we are actually affected by the mind in the sense that we identify with the mind’s emotions, the mind’s desires and then we unwittingly give control to them let ourselves be controlled by them so the soul is not entangled it’s like a person may be sitting in one place and watching a horror movie through a TV and that person may become horrified on seeing some terrible scenes in the horror movie or that person may become elated, delighted if there are some some enjoyable humorous scenes in the movie but in either case when the worst horror scenes are happening the soul is actually unaffected because the soul is transcendental because the soul is spiritual so just as the person who is watching the movie is unaffected by the body the person who is watching the movie is very different and the person is a child, the child may be safe the mother is nearby in the house doing some housework, whatever happens actually the soul is the person, the child is safe despite whatever is happening in the movie screen it is only because the child’s consciousness is streamed to the TV screen and through the TV screen to the rest of the world that the child gets caught a child feels overwhelmed so similarly for us as souls actually the soul is different from the body and the soul is unaffected by the body, whatever happens to the body in the Bhagavatam also the example is given that when a moon is reflected the moon is reflected in water and at that time the moon often appears to be affected by the waves in the water the moon seems to be wavering it seems to be shaking but actually it is not it is simply moving up and down it is only its reflection that is moving up and down it is only as the moon seen in its reflection that it is affected the moon in its originality is unaffected similarly whenever there is any problem whenever the soul suffers in the material world because the body grows old gets deceased and dies so the soul in the mother’s womb suffers over there through it all actually the soul is unaffected because the soul is pure pure and transcendental the soul is elevated the soul is actually beyond the body it is only because of the misidentification the soul in the body suffers sometimes the examples are given from certain cultural contexts and those examples themselves may not be immediately relevant for those who are not aware of the cultural context so for example say here ये था सर्वगतम् सोक्ष्मिय आकाशिन नोपनि an example is given how the aakashya which pervades everything still it does not get entangled with anything so what is this aakashya it can be translated as sky, it can be translated as ether from the modern scientific perspective sky is not an object in terms of ontological existence in terms of functional perception we do see the sky but it said that so the word aakash can be translated as sky, it can be translated as ether either way the point is that within the sankhya metaphysics sankhya frame of analysis aakash is a subtle object it is the subtlest of the gross objects it allows for the transmission of sound and it is what we could say is the substratum of space it is what enables space to exist so such aakash exists everywhere but it is not affected by anything it just remains the soul it is so subtle that it enters into anything but it is not affected by anything similarly the soul enters into the body but the soul remains unaffected by the particular bodily situation this idea that the soul is unaffected is not entangled is not meant to deny the factuality of our present entanglement because the soul is not entangled but the mind is and as long as we identify with the mind till that particular point we ourselves are an illusion and we do suffer if others are suffering we are not going to deny their suffering by saying you are the soul and you are unaffected we have to empathize with their suffering and try to elevate their consciousness so that they can tolerate and transcend that suffering similarly we need to actually work for purifying ourselves in a serious way and then we will realize that we are free so we have to commit ourselves to the process of freeing ourselves by which we will realize that we are free whereas a child who is watching a horror movie can just look away from the horror movie or turn off the horror movie now we, even if we even if the body dies body gets destroyed, still because the mind is attached to matter and material enjoyment it will just start off go to another body and start off watching another horror movie the life in the material existence may appear sometimes pleasant but ultimately it becomes unpleasant as we grow old it becomes like a horror movie so therefore it’s important for us as souls to realize that as long as the mind is attached we are all for practical purposes entangled and this is this point is example and this point is primarily a philosophical understanding that actually it is not the soul that is bound it’s not the soul that is entangled, it is the mind that is