Gita 02.59 – Complement renunciation of the material with contemplation on the spiritual

Exercise due caution in protecting ourselves from unnecessary trouble.

Thank you. Bhagavad Gita 2.59 Krishna is continuing to answer Arjuna's questions. And he is describing how the self-realized person, the sthita prajna, controls the senses, keeps them under discipline.

This is the answer to the continuation of the answer to the question kimasita. So, 55 was the answer to kabhasha. Kim prabhashita was answered 56, 57 and 58 to 63 will be the answer to kimasita.

So, in the previous verse, Krishna talked about withdrawing the consensus the way a tortoise withdraws its limbs. Now, in this verse, Krishna points out to a weakness of that strategy and then also tells about how to fix that weakness. In this world, whenever, say, a war is fought, a particular strategy is adopted.

So, that strategy has its strength, but its strategy also has its weakness. So, in the Mahabharata war, say, when they would form a particular formation, either the Kauravas or the Pandavas, that formation had strength, but then it also had some weaknesses and the opponents would try to attack on those weaknesses. So, those weaknesses, when the strategy is used, one has to be aware and one has to deal with it.

So, for example, when a cricket team decides to have a lot of spinners and then if the wicket is spinning, then that is an advantage. But if the opponent has a very good spin batsman, then that same strategy can become a disadvantage. So, the point is, while adopting any strategy, one cannot just, one has to be aware of the limitations of that strategy.

So, Krishna is pointing out here the limitation of the strategy of withdrawing the senses and he states that Vishaya, Vishaya, Krishna uses the word, the same as, which essentially means the same as Indriyarthi. Indriyarthi is sense objects, Vishaya is sense objects. Vinivartante, Vinivartante means to stay away from, to give up.

So, Vinivartante is Samharte, was there in the previous verse. So, basically one stays away from the sense objects. Then, niraharas chidehinah, so the embodied soul feels as if I am being nirahara, I am fasting, I am starving.

And the word fasting is used to refer to a conscious choice. That means that okay, there is some today sacred day or some, I have to do some medical test or I want to decrease my weight. So, I am choosing to fast.

So, whenever there is a conscious choice because of some purpose that we used to refer to the, it has fasting. Whereas starving usually refers to being undernourished because of circumstances, either one is too poor to get some food or there is a famine or one is in a, for some other reason, one is in a position where one cannot eat. So, niraharasya.

So, actually, in the embodied stage, when the soul is dehinaha, the embodiment creates not just the hunger of the belly, but our embodiment creates a hunger of the senses also. So, when the soul comes in a particular body, then the soul starts craving for sense objects corresponding to that particular body. So, for example, a male starts craving for females, females start craving for males.

So, looking at the form of the attractive sense object, looking at the hearing the voice, feeling the touch. Now, all these, there is almost like a hunger, just as when there is hunger, we feel there is something empty, there is something missing and I need to fill it. Now, of course, the difference between the biological hunger and the sensual hunger.

Biological hunger means that the hunger of the stomach is that the hunger of the stomach needs to be fulfilled for survival. Whereas the sensual hunger does not need to be fulfilled. We can say no to the senses and it is not that we are going to die.

If you do not look at beautiful objects, if you do not hear sweet sounds, if you do not eat delicious foods, we are not going to die. If you do not eat food, we will die. But if you just do not eat delicious food, we will not die.

So, the sensual hunger does not have to be pandered to all the time. Or it does not have to be pandered to for that matter. Whereas the biological hunger, the hunger of the belly needs to be attended to.

Now, at a subjective level, the sensual hunger feels as irresistible, if not more, than biological hunger. Sensual hunger comes as an urge. Yes, I want it and I want it now.

So, one feels that, one feels incomplete, one feels impelled by the sense of incompleteness to get that object. So, rasavarjam, and now rasavarjam means, okay, the soul, the person is feeling that niraharasya, feeling starved, but the person decides I will not take it, rasavarjam, I will not engage in it. But still rasopyasya, one decides not to engage in the sense gratification, but still the taste for sense gratification remains.

So, here there is an alliteration of the words rasa. Rasavarjam, rasopyasya, the word is used twice. The word rasa refers to the indulgence, the physical act of gratification, which gives some pleasure.

So, rasavarjam means one decides that one will not engage in that sense gratification. But still, the second rasa refers here to the desire, the craving, the hunger. So, he says rasopyasya, that remains.

The action may be checked, but the passion, the obsession, the infatuation, that is not checked, that does not go away. And that creates dissatisfaction. So, the action is not there, but the obsession is there.

And when the obsession is not fulfilled through action, then there is a dissatisfaction. So, that because of the dissatisfaction, one feels niraharasya. And what is the solution to this? Param drishtva nivartate.

So, vinivartante was what started the words and vishaya vinivartante and nivartate. Param drishtva nivartate. So, vinivartate means one is giving up the sense objects, but one is endeavouring to and giving up.

But nivartate means one becomes situated in that renunciation. One is no longer agitated. So, how did that happen? Param drishtva.

Now, param refers to higher, drishtva refers to sight. So, one once gets a higher sight. Then one becomes peaceful.

Now, what does this param drishtva refer to higher sight? Now, actually Prabhupada translate this as higher taste. Now, taste is not necessarily something which is again sensual in the sense of something which is tasted by the tongue. It is just a way of speaking to convey the point of getting higher happiness.

So, param drishtva, a higher vision or a higher perception gives also a higher satisfaction. And that higher satisfaction is what protects us from the agitation for the lower things. Now, this param drishtva can refer, what does it refer to? Now, at one level, it can refer to the soul.

Krishna has not talked about himself till now. And he will talk about himself later in the Bhagavad Gita. He will mention himself briefly in 2.61. So, the highest vision, the highest perception that can bring the best satisfaction and that can act as the best counter to dissatisfaction is Krishna himself.

So, when we fix our mind on Krishna, when we hear his holy name, when we hear his katha, when we take darshan of his deities, then that gives us a higher fulfillment, a higher satisfaction. And that makes us situated peacefully in the renunciation. Because once we get a higher satisfaction, then renunciation does not feel like deprivation.

Because we understand that, oh, I am getting some higher happiness. I am being told not to enjoy it, but I am getting some pleasure as well. Therefore, it is not deprivation.

Then we can become peaceful. So, param drishtva at the highest level refers to a perception of Krishna, a connection with Krishna, especially a devotional connection with Krishna. Now, at this stage in the flow of the Bhagavad Gita, param simply refers to the higher reality, the higher drishtva, the higher vision.

So, now sometimes the word drishtva is also used in a sense of understanding. Sometimes somebody says I, somebody is making an argument and then the other person says I see. Now, I see here means that actually I understand.

So, param drishtva can refer to a higher perception when a person is realized, when a person is spiritually realized, then one can actually see the soul. But even before that happens, one can get intellectual comprehension, intellectual realization, intellectual conviction about the reality of the soul and that can itself make one peaceful. Oh, I am feeling agitated, tormented by the desires for sense gratification, but suddenly I read some scripture verse or I hear something and suddenly the inside sinks in.

I am not the body, I am the soul and the soul is meant for something far higher. And once that sinks in, once that comprehension dawns, then param drishtva, oh, there is better, there are better things waiting for me. Nivartate, become peaceful.

So, Krishna is pointing out the weakness of the strategy of withdrawal and that is the residual dissatisfaction that will be there. And Krishna then gives the means to fix the hole in the strategy, that is, he says, higher perception, the higher perception, the comprehension of the higher spiritual truth, ultimately Krishna or at this stage it can even be the soul, that will help one to become fixed in renunciation. So, in our bhakti, we should not focus so much on saying no, no, no.

We are focusing on why we are saying no and how we can, what are we saying yes to. When we focus on that, then we will become peaceful and steady in our renunciation. Thank you.