Gita 14.10 – Don’t be captivated by the dramatics in the theater of embodied consciousness

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
thank you jiva sattvam tamas chaiva tamah sattvam rajas tatha Krishna is telling about how there is a constant competition between the three modes so just tamas cha bhuvya suppressing subduing the modes of passion and ignorance sattvam bhavati bharata sattva emerges as or becomes dominant but then its dominance doesn’t last for long and after that rajas sattvam tamas chaiva sometimes rajagod takes over overpowering tamah and sattva and sometimes so tamah sattvam rajas tatha and sometimes tamoguna takes over so our consciousness is the theatre for the conflict among these modes and perceiving it as a theatre that means from a distance perspective seeing that this is happening not to me but it is happening at a distance from me just as when we get caught in a theatre on what is being depicted then we lose consciousness of where we are sitting and everything else but when we keep a distance when we understand what is happening in the movie which is depicted in the theatre is not actually happening to me it is not that it is a horror movie that actually I am under the threat the whole scare is just illusion for titillation so of course the illusion created by the modes strikes much closer to home it is not at all easy to see it from a distance perspective distant perspective as we might see the things happening on a movie theatre in the movie but still philosophical contemplation can help us create that distance so for example when we start feeling non devotional or anti devotional when we start feeling that oh this chanting is so boring maybe I can just watch some tv or maybe I have so many practical things to do also or so many other thoughts come in my mind so then we can understand that instead of identifying those thoughts as our own we can see it through the lens or prism of this verse so what is happening when we feel the urge to do a lot of things that means in the theatre of our consciousness in the conflict between this triumvirate of goodness passion and ignorance passion is gaining the upper hand and as passion gains the upper hand in the theatre of the consciousness accordingly passionate energies start getting radiated from the consciousness from that theatre and accordingly we start feeling passionate or when we start feeling suddenly bored apathetic lazy at that time we can understand that oh tamogoda is now taking the upper hand it is now radiating energies that promote that foster ignorance and that’s why now I am feeling like this in fact Krishna will recommend this kind of perception towards the end of this chapter in response to Arjuna’s question about how to overcome demurs Krishna says in the section from 14.21 to 26 where he deals with how to counter the moors he says that when these emotions come is associated with goodness is associated with passion is associated with ignorance so he says when they come don’t resent it and don’t crave for them after they depart that means sometimes passion may seem very good I can get so much work done thanks to passion and like that sometimes we may crave for a particular kind of feeling and sometimes we may resent a particular kind of feeling coming when for example we want to do some serious work and suddenly we start feeling bored for no reason then we may be resentful but then Krishna says understand these are just intruders coming in they will come and if you don’t entertain them they will go away stay as if you are detached Krishna has used the same word earlier to refer to how he himself sits in the body in the world how he himself is situated with the whole world also so 10.9 uses the word so similarly Krishna says become like that don’t get emotionally entangled in these fleeting emotions by knowing that this is just happening on the theatre of the consciousness on the theatre of more specifically the embodied consciousness whereas you the soul are different therefore don’t get carried away by it because of the gunas don’t get distracted be situated know that this is simply the gunas acting and don’t get disturbed by it don’t get don’t flicker don’t waver because of it so how can we do this if we are sitting in a movie theatre and if we are looking at the movie it is almost impossible to not get emotionally involved and entangled in it but if we look somewhere else and find something in more interesting happening and we can absorb our in that then turning away from the movie and staying indifferent towards the movie becomes much easier similarly if we cultivate devotional interests and we find something interesting about Krishna to contemplate when we are chanting to trigger our thoughts towards Krishna if we have some favourite verses some favourite songs some favourite tunes some favourite deities versions so whatever it is that kindles our spiritual emotions that triggers our spiritual interest that starts our thoughts in the spiritual direction if we do that then after that chanting will be much easier because we will be able to by keeping our thoughts in something spiritually constructive we will find it much easier to keep our thoughts away from the material distracting with its emotions of boredom or whatever else so thus by finding by kindling our devotional interest we can turn away from the theatre of the embodied consciousness wherein the modes are in a relentless struggle for supremacy by turning to the supreme lord we can be protected from being victimized by the modes mutual struggle for supremacy