Gita 14.25 As long as we are materially motivated, we will be materially agitated

Transcript

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thank you that is by looking at their behavior especially how they function in response to life’s ups and downs we all go through go through various situations in our life and when life goes normally then we also behave reasonably well but when life present bumps on our journey that is when our spiritual realization our realization that we are not material beings and so are not so much to be affected by our material ups and downs is revealed that revelation how much we have realized that is revealed so for example on a straight road even an inexperienced driver may be able to drive reasonably well and it may not be so easy to differentiate that driver from an experienced expert driver but when we recognize that actually the road is becoming tougher and then the traffic is becoming dangerous or the climate is becoming dangerous then the inexperienced driver starts losing nerve whereas the experienced driver stays firm and steady so to the extent we recognize this reality that we all are at our core spiritual beings now whether we have realized it or not whether someone has realized it or not we can perceive when the any way the atmosphere becomes bad or the car itself becomes bad or say the neighbors are cranky sometimes the neighbors may be irritable but expert driver will not neighbors means other people sitting in the car may be cranky but neighbor does not but the driver does not let such distractions affect oneself especially if the driver is an expert and experienced so similarly when we are driving this body which is like a vehicle for traversing material existence material world then here we also get tested and sometimes distracted by the world’s ups and downs so our own car may start malfunctioning emitting strange noises or brakes not working that’s like our body stops functioning properly or our other people may start other drivers may start driving crazy someone may be drunk someone may cut against us how we respond to that at that time so this is the body troubling us is Adi Atmiklesh the other people may trouble us in various ways that is Adi Bhautiklesh and then there is Adi Daiviklesh which is the distress we experience because of environmental factors sometimes the weather becomes too cold sometimes there is a hurricane so our transcendence is seen when we are able to stay unruffled amidst the onslaught of the Adi Atmik, Adi Bhautik and Adi Daiviklesh both the experienced drivers are driving in the same car and of course we are not just talking about experience we are also talking about expertise experience engenders expertise but only when there is the express purpose of developing expertise if a person is driving for many years but has never tried to improve one’s driving then no matter how much they drive they will not actually be able to improve their driving skills or their driving skills will not improve much just doing a thing repeatedly doesn’t necessarily mean that automatically we become good at doing it we may be mediocre at doing it and we may be satisfied with our mediocrity and just stay on that way so similarly just living in the material world doesn’t necessarily enable us to develop a certain level of transcendence a certain level of equanimity some people even when they grow old they still remain very jittery, very excitable they become very excited at small good things and very agitated at small bad things so the unflappability or equanimity is something which they don’t so easily develop to develop it we all need to recognize that we need to strive for it so here when Krishna is talking about how the yogis, how the serious spiritual seekers, the serious transcendentalists transcend the modes describing their characteristics so he talks about their characteristics in terms of their capacity to face life’s ups and downs with equanimity so mana apamananus, dunyas as it is said people are people and sometimes the same people who defy us today may demonize us tomorrow we see this among sports fans in India is a cricket mad country and when India wins a cricket match at that time the world glorifies Indians Indians glorify the cricket team thousands idolate them, millions even but when India loses especially loses an important match then brick bats are thrown at them at the Indian players, sometimes their houses are burnt sometimes a garland of footwear is made and put around their effigies, basically they are humiliated they are exalted so here we see that the world is going to be what it is it is going to have its ups and downs and serious people need to take the world’s downs with a chin forward don’t try to slink away from the blow yes this is what it is this is the nature of the world so those who simply understand the nature of the world they develop stoicism they become unemotional and the Bhagavad Gita also talks about conception of devotion that is somewhat stoic it focuses on becoming unemotional but that focus is contextual it is not essential or conclusive why not? because the Gita is a book that talks about transcendence and with that transcendental objective in mind and it guides Arjuna who has been overcome very much by material emotionality to overcome that emotionality and in that context it urges him to resist the ups and downs to go up and down with life’s ups and downs it urges him to stay calm and composed be equal towards friends and enemies this doesn’t mean necessarily that we act equally towards them an enemy may come to kill us and we can’t foolishly embrace them at that time but act equally means see both of them with equal vision see both of them spiritually and then act appropriately to further their spiritual evolution to serve the lord who is the lord of both of us if one gives up all arambha arambha means worldly endeavor so as long as we are materially motivated we will be materially agitated because if our goal is material then when we feel that the goal is being threatened how can we not get agitated so in Krishna he is talking about staying equipoised this last verse sarvarambha parityagi one gives up all material endeavors and works only for Krishna’s pleasure that positive focus of working for Krishna’s pleasure will be talked about in the next verse