Seeking to understand our nature… Gita 03.35
Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna.
Hare Krishna. Seeking to understand our nature won’t box us in. It will reveal the box we are already in.
Whenever we hear of any system of classification, for example, the social division as described in Varnashram, Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra, this often leads to the fear of people being boxed in, we boxing ourselves in, and thus these labels may restrict us. So, if we identify ourselves, say, as Kshatriyas, then those aspects of our personality which may not seem to gel with Kshatriya nature, we might suppress them. If we identify ourselves as Brahmanas, then we might become apathetic about developing, say, our Vaishya aspect, by which we can handle finances expertly.
So, the important thing here is to recognize that each one of us has to use any system of classification for a constructive purpose, that it is not meant to create a box around us and box us in. Rather, we are already in some boxes. We already have a particular nature that has come from our upbringing, from our past life, karma, and from our this life choices.
And that nature, the more we understand it, the more we can harmonize ourselves with it. So, we could say that our nature is like the nature of the vehicle that we have. Suppose we rent a car, then we need to initially at least do a test run to see, try it out to see how that car works, what it does well, what it doesn’t do well, and by that we will be able to figure out, okay, this car functions best in this way.
Similarly, for each one of us, if we wish to move forward in our life, do anything constructive, then we need to focus on that which is already given to us. The Bhagavad Gita explains that the body-mind is like a machine for our souls, and understanding our nature simply means understanding the nature of our body-mind-machine. And thus the Bhagavad Gita 3.35 states, श्रेयान् स्वधर्मो विगुणा परधर्मात् स्वनुष्ठेतात् स्वधर्मे निधनम् श्रेयः परधर्मो भयावः Trying to run a car as if it is a bike, that’s a disaster.
And trying to run a car the way we might run a truck, that is also a disaster. So we have to understand the kind of vehicle we have, and such self-understanding, seeking to understand ourselves by observing ourselves, it needs to be done with compassion, with kindness, not with judgment or condemnation. Oh, I am like this only.
I am useless. I can’t do that. No, just understand ourselves so that we can utilize what we have to the best capacity.
Whatever be the limitations of the vehicle we have, it also has strengths. And in spite of its limitations, every vehicle is capable of empowering us to do a constructive contribution and ultimately attain the supreme destination, thereby making our life meaningful. So seeking to understand our nature is not meant to box us in.
It is meant to reveal the box we are already in. Thank you. Hare Krishna.