Gita 16.22 To pursue our self-interest we need to purge out self-defeating desires

Transcript

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thank you Bhagavad Gita 16.22 Bhagavad Gita 16.22 when one is freed from these what are these Bhagavad Gita 16.22 they are the paths to ignorance, to darkness, to hell Then one is able to act Atmanah Shreyas for one’s long-term good. When one acts in this way, Atmanah Shreyas, then the result of that is Tato Yati Paramgatim. Thus one is able to attain the ultimate destination.
So here Krishna is talking about how we all can move towards auspiciousness in our life. Because of various reasons, we may have made inauspicious choices. And those choices are simply from our present situation, they are just functionally parts of who we are.
We can’t deny that they affect us. But the magnitude to which they affect us can be shaped, it can be rejigged, it can be minimized. They will be our starting points, but they don’t have to be our ending points.
That means the kind of disposition we have cultivated from our past is definitely going to affect us. But to what extent it affects us is something which we can choose. It’s something that we can work at.
It’s something that we can revamp by our determined choice. By our cautious deliberation about the nature of nature. The nature of human nature is that it is not easily changeable.
But that doesn’t mean it is entirely unchangeable. So somebody who has been born with strong forces of lust, anger, greed present within them will find it difficult to give up those forces. But that doesn’t mean that they can’t be given up at all.
Certainly they can be given up. And for giving them up, what is needed is, first of all, recognition that they need to be given up. And then there is intention, there is direction in terms of how to do it, why to do it, how to do it.
So here in the 16th chapter, Krishna has given us a grim portrayal of the demoniac nature and has given a sobering, scary depiction of their destinations. And this should be enough for most people to want to change themselves. Just as when a doctor describes the prognosis of a particular disease, this will lead to this, this will lead to this, this will lead to this.
And sometimes the prognosis can be scary. The doctor’s purpose is not to scare the patient. The doctor’s purpose is not to make the patient paranoid and thus make the patient all fearful and powerless.
No, the purpose is to make the patient recognize the gravity of the problem and the necessity of changing oneself, of improving oneself. So once that positive motivation has been created, whereby one recognizes the importance of changing oneself and then works to change oneself, then remaining things follow soon. So to the extent we work, recognizing the limitations of our particular situations, to that extent we will be able to move onwards in our spiritual journey.
So mukti is freedom or liberation. Vimukti is a very strong kind of liberation. vimuktah kaunteya tamo dvaarais tribhir na raha tamo dvaarais And all of us live in tamoguna and we have some amount of tamoguna, the demoniac actually embraces tamoguna, they live deeply in tamoguna.
And when one becomes freed from that, ācaratyātmanu śreyas then we can work for our long-term well-being. tato yāti parāṅgate Thus one can attain the enduring destination. So it is for each one of us to recognize the need to purify ourselves and then to thereafter work.
In fact, to the extent one can become freed from the forces that perpetuate our lower nature, to that extent we can act according to our real nature, our spiritual essence. And thus ātmanah śreyas. There is a contrast which we can see.
Nāśanaṁ ātmanah was said earlier in Trividhyam Narkasidam, dvāraṁ nāśanaṁ ātmanah. But here in other word ātmanah śreyas. That for one’s long-term well-being, for the enduring auspiciousness of the soul, for that what should one do? ācaratyātmanu śreyas tato yāti parāṅgate And thus one can attain the supreme destination.
Krishna earlier in the 15th chapter talked about how his abode is the supreme destination. That is mentioned in the 8th chapter also. And now, in the next two verses, what are the actions that are not ātmanah śreyas and what are the actions that are ātmanah śreyas that will be mentioned in terms of scriptural directions.
For us too, how do we learn to become vimukta from kāma-krodha-lobha that are binding us, dragging us, degrading us? First of all, as I said, intention. We have to have the knowledge about how dangerous they are and why we need to free ourselves from them, at least from their ādharmic versions which make us act in grievously sinful ways. And then we need to free ourselves from those influences internal and external that aggravate whatever influence is already there within us.
So that is a part of how to do it. First of all, we recognize that lust is bad and needs to be given up. Then we take the next step forward and think how can I do it? And when we work in this way gradually, slowly but surely, we will be able to transcend the limitations which are imposed on us in terms of our being dragged in certain directions and we will be able to move slowly but steadily towards our spiritual elevation.