Gita 16.13 Let the mind’s chariot take us where we want to go not where it wants to go

Transcript

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thank you Bhagavad Gita 16.13 Krishna is continuing to describe the mentality of the ungodly, of the demoniac and here he talks about their incessant dreaming and scheming for gaining wealth this much I have attained in this way I will attain more this much I have got now and in future it will become more this is practically the only verse in the Gita where we could say the first half and the second half say the essentially the same thing so basically the verse is talking about the obsession with money that the demoniac have Krishna in the previous verse has talked about that they they acquire wealth and they do they do injustice they get into crime and serious and grievous wrongdoings in their pursuit of wealth these are the four purusharthas artha is a vital necessity for living and unless it is addressed we will be in difficulties but the accumulation of wealth when it is done with while violating the principles of dharma dharma, artha, kama they are all meant to go harmoniously but when they don’t go harmoniously when we pursue artha at the expense of dharma then that causes degradation when we pursue financial prosperity at the cost of religious and spiritual morality so that specific violation of morality even to the point of murdering others is described in the next verse in this verse to point to the compulsiveness and even the addictiveness of the craving for money we see practically the repetition of the verse in its first half and the second half the essential thought is the same the words are slightly different so in one sense we could say that on gaining some more money this person thinks now I have gained this much money and I’ll gain more so this may be when a person gains the money the person is counting the money and then this is what I have this is maybe when the pressure person goes to one’s treasury and counts all the money that one has oh this much I have got in the future I’ll get much more so there is a slight difference in the thrust we could say one is on delight on increasing once on finding that once money has increased or on getting some more money the second is on tabulating the total money that one has and finding that delighting and thinking that even this is increasing and this will increase in future and the key word in this verse which we will elaborate on is not but so the mind is here compared to a chariot it’s a implicit comparison where it’s more like a metaphor rather than a simile it is not like we have as if detached it’s just an implicit equalization normally we are familiar with the body being equated with the chariot the chariot body metaphor is one of the most well known metaphors from the Upanishads now in traditional cultures the chariot is used in general to symbolize a mood of locomotion especially powerful mood of locomotion meant for the powerful chariots can move very fast and better the horses on the chariot the faster they can move and chariots are not something which can be afforded by any and every common person even chariots are not there for all soldiers also it is for the top ranking military officers that the privilege of being provided a chariot is reserved so in the chariot body metaphor the idea of a chariot is used to convey how the soul interacts with the body now here the chariot metaphor is used not primarily for interaction but for the speediness of the imagination just as a person with a speedy chariot, at one moment at one place and at next moment there may be a huge significant distance away like that the mind can be at one moment in one place and the next moment it can go to another part of the world maybe even another part of the universe and the mind can traverse an enormous distance within just a moment and that distance can be not just physical but it can also be emotional or moral so emotional means at one moment we are feeling positive and optimistic and life is so dreadful kind of feeling and the next moment thought comes in our mind and we go to the other extreme life is life is so dreadful, life stinks this is terrible that is terrible this is awful so the mind can go from awesome to awful within moments so not just emotionally the chariot of the mind can travel enormous distance morally also so at one moment we, our moral sense, our conscious may be strong and steady and we may be thinking I am never going to do this, this is unconscionable this is reprehensible and next moment our desires may change and we may be thinking I want to do this I must do it, I need to do it how can I live without it it is irresistible so morally the mind can go from rejecting something to craving and embracing that very thing a chariot a chariot can take a person a long distance only when they get on the chariot so we have the choice not to get on to the chariot of the mind that means the mind may start wandering here and there but we can choose to be an observer of the mind than to be a rider with the mind to be a passenger on the mind and of course we don’t just have to be an observer of the mind we can also be the director of the mind so if we determinedly decide this is not what I am going to do and that is what I am going to do then it is possible for us to resist the mind’s lures even if they come upon us persuasively and forcefully and swiftly so we need to be rooted in firm self understanding by regular scriptural study and by diligent spiritual practice then we will be able to resist the mind’s pushes thank you