Gita 14.23 We are not our scars, be they physical or emotional

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
thank you Krishna speaks here about how we can best grow in our capacity to deal with the modes so that we can ultimately transcend them in 14.22 he stated that we can just be non-judgmental and non-committal observer of the moods the moods that are triggered within us by the modes we don’t resent things when they come and we don’t crave for them also now how can we just be observers of our emotions that is elaborated here stay as if detached as if indifferent don’t be agitated by the modes know that the mode that are acting and don’t let yourself be influenced inordinately by the modes know that the modes action will come and it will go we don’t have to necessarily be affected by it because we at our core are different from the modes when we understand that we are souls who are spiritual beings then we can observe ourselves with observe ourselves in the sense that we observe the emotions coming to us with detachment, with distance and thus we can move onwards calmly what we do need for our growth is the understanding that we cannot on our own distance ourselves from our emotions for very long unless we have an understanding that we are different from and are actually higher than our emotions one is situated like this one is not shaken how does that happen? It happens when we understand that we are souls the emotions that come within us are not ours nor are they ours just as we need to disidentify with the body stop identifying with the body, stop thinking that I am the body similarly we need to disidentify ourselves with the mind seeing that the mind and the emotions the emotions it generates or it contains they are not us if say our body has got a scar now we can’t wish away or deny the reality of the scar but we don’t have to let that scar become the soul definer of our conception of who we are yes we have awareness of the scar and we deal with it appropriately most of the times we neglect it but say when we have to maybe appear in public and this scar doesn’t look good we may try to avoid showing this scar so not that we want to deny it, we want to cover it up but we don’t want to unnecessarily highlight it either so if we don’t obsess over it then over time we find that it doesn’t matter that much and such non-obsession about physical mark is possible when we recognize at our core that we are bigger and better than that scar the same principle applies to our mind also based on the kind of actions that we have done in the past based on the kind of thoughts that we have cultivated in the past we feel certain emotions we experience certain agitations we undergo certain cravings and all these come very naturally for us they come much faster than what they would have come if we had been distanced from them if some thought of the scar will not come so much to a person who doesn’t have a scar similarly say the desire to drink alcohol will not come to somebody who has never drunk alcohol but it may come much more easily and much more forcefully for one who has drunk in the past so the actions that we have done in the past become like our scars they become like our mental scars primarily we could say and we need to acknowledge that these scars are there so we may have a inclination to become short tempered to drink to play video games to gossip to just be lazy if these are the kind of activities we have habitually done in the past and if we become too disturbed when those desires come within us then we will be sabotaging ourselves because we will not recognize that this is just a scar we have we can’t deny it but we don’t have to magnify it either that means that we can calmly acknowledge that this kind of thought this kind of desire this kind of feeling is going to come within me and when it comes even if I know that it is unpleasant and even if I have resolved not to go in that direction still that feeling will come and I don’t have to get worried because it has come I don’t have to get agitated because it has come I can just stay calm and learn to distance myself from it learn to detach myself by recognizing that I am higher I am a soul I am the decider I am the feeler of the feelings and I can acknowledge the feeling without acting on it we can’t be entirely detached but we can act as if detached by having a purpose just like say in a cricket match there is umpire the umpire can also be and is usually attracted to cricket that’s why they became umpires in the first place but they are not expected to be partial give decisions in favor of one player and against another player they are concerned about what is happening and they appropriately process and respond to various appeals and various situations similarly if we understand that we are like the referee or the umpire for our emotions different emotions will appeal within us but just because somebody is appealing doesn’t mean that we have to be conceding we have to be consenting we have our purpose and if that purpose is firmly fixed within us then we won’t be swayed just by the volume of the appeal but we will decide fairly and intelligently the best such purpose will be mentioned 3 verses later when Krishna says that maam chhi yogya bhichare na bhakti yogena sevate sagunan samatit yaitan brahmabhuyaya kalpate that being firmly fixed in bhakti is the most efficacious way for transcending the modes when we want to love and serve Krishna then that purpose becomes the basis for our umpiring our referring which emotion to let in and which emotion to keep out