Gita 05.23 – The war against lust is a war of attrition

Bhagavad-gita 5.23 shaknoti hai vayam sodhum praak sharir vimokshanat kaam krodho dbhavam vegam sayukta sa sukhi na raha so here Krishna is speaking shaknoti if it is possible for you shaknoti hai va in this world sodhum to tolerate if you can tolerate praak sharir vimokshanat till the point of death praak sharir vimokshanat till the point of death what do you have to tolerate kaam krodho dbhavam vegam the vega the agitation the urge rather vega means urge the for of kaama or krodha of the desire for sense enjoyment or the irritation the frustration that comes when the desire for sense enjoyment is not fulfilled if you can tolerate this krishna kaam krodho dbhavam vegam one who can tolerate what happens such a person is well situated situated in yoga the word yukta is a variant of the word yoga further krishna says such a person will be happy so this verse continues the thread of thought that has been going on from the past several verses especially in the previous verse krishna has said that the wise people yehi samsparsha jaa bhoga dukha yonaya evate aadyantavantah kaunteya na teshura mate budhaha the wise people budhaha na teshura mate do not delight in samsparsha jaa bhoga in bodily pleasure in the pleasure that comes from the contact of senses and sense objects why because dukha yonaya evate they know that it ends in misery and it's temporary aadyantavantah kaunteya so now i'm hearing this a natural question comes up okay even if i know that sense pleasure is temporary that ends in misery but still sensual desires don't go away they still stay so what do i do about that knowing the right thing doesn't immediately remove the wrong desire or knowing that something is undesirable does not make it seem undesirable so i don't feel that it is undesirable even if i know that it is undesirable so that means one is knowing intellectually and other is feeling at an emotional level so i still the desire still come and i feel like enjoying so what do i do krishna says tolerate if it is possible to tolerate it if it is possible now normally if it is possible for you this might seem like okay if it is not don't do it it's not exactly that sense that Arju Krishna is using it normally when a kshatriya is told if it is possible for you to do it that actually triggers kshatriya's valorous spirit yes what is it not possible for me i'll do it now kshatriyas are meant to be aggressive basically they are trained to fight and one expression or one way of fighting is by being aggressive charging against the enemy and destroying the enemy or setting the enemy to flight but another aspect of courage also is endurance sometimes kshatriyas may also have to fight a war of attrition war of attrition means that neither a party attacks the other party but both try to both try by various maneuvers and strategies to tire out the other party so at that time it becomes a test of endurance whoever can endure more endure longer will emerge the winner so that endurance is something similar to tolerance so Krishna is saying here saknoti hai bhaiya sodhum so in the war against kama in the war against lust and other desires you cannot put them to flight permanently now even if we tell lust to go away lust is not going to go away it will just stay there and after some time it will come back so the battle against lust is a battle is a the war against lust is a war of attrition we can't drive away lust we have to veer away lust veer out lust veer out means what gradually again and again when we show we are not going to indulge in it not going to give in it if you can tolerate sodhum so Krishna is triggering is it possible you can tolerate it now the point is that how long we have to tolerate that is the whole point of the war of attrition that one has to wait for a long long time one has to basically one's patience has to outlive the enemy's patience that is the war of attrition so praak sharir vimokshanat praak sharir till the point when vimokshanat when you are ready to give up the body means till the point of death you have to tolerate this you know a war of attrition is often fought when the two enemies are in a face-off but neither can advance so for example the first world war trench warfare was used wherein both armies would dig trenches and the soldiers would be in the trenches and if either came out of the trench and tried to advance the other soldiers the other army soldiers from the security of the trench would shoot down those who were trying to advance and especially in the war between France and Germany and some other situations also the trench warfare went on for years and the soldiers just had to stay in the trenches practically so the point is that in such a war whoever gets exhausted that person will eventually lose out how long can I stay in the trench I will come out as soon as the person comes out gets shot down so like that in the trench war we are in a war in which although we can attack last we cannot eradicate last very quickly so we have to veer it out and we may expect that last will be dead till the moment of death Krishna is preparing us for the long haul by saying that this tolerance will have to continue till the moment of death till the moment of death what do you do so the urge that is born of lust and when lust is frustrated then it transmogrifies transmogrify means to become transformed into ghastly form into a more horrible form so kaam krodhod bhavam vegam so the urge of the force of lust or the force of whatever you want to say of lust and the urge of anger both of them should tolerate till the moment of death then sayuktah sasukhinah such a person will be yuktah will be engaged in yoga on the path to sukhamakshayam ashnuteh to unlimited happiness Krishna has said in 5.21 that so brahma yoga yuktaatma that person who is engaged in yukta in yoga like that who is engaged or harmonized in yoga like that then what happens to such a person sukhamakshayam ashnuteh will attain unlimited happiness so Krishna states over here sayuktah such a person will be well situated in fact he says sasukhinah that person will be happy normally many of us may not consider tolerance to be a state of happiness if somebody is attacking and I have to endure it or the desires are coming and I have to endure it without indulgence there has to be endurance so this is exhausting how can that make me happy actually just the endurance doesn't make us happy although thus the endurance can provide us relief from misery because sometimes indulgence can aggravate the misery just as if a person has got a scratch and has got a sore or some wound a rash and the person keeps it will make worse the person just tolerates no I won't scratch that itself will decrease it but along with that if the person applies medicine to cure the rash then the rash will go away completely so similarly when we practice yoga then that is not just for some external it is for inner transformation so it connects us with the inner spiritual reality and because of their connection with the inner spiritual reality so in this verse Krishna is stating that if the if the yogi can tolerate till the end of life the forces of desire and anger then that person will stay connected harmonized and will be happy in fact even in this life it is not just that we can experience the spiritual happiness in the next life or something like that even in this life if the more we turn inwards towards the soul and towards the super soul the more we turn inwards the more we find happiness even while we exist in the soul because in words there is Krishna who is present and he is all attractive he is the reservoir of all happiness and by focusing on him we all can experience lasting happiness thank you.