The Less We Identify With Our Thoughts The Less We Become Thoughtless Gita 14.23

Transcript

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The less we identify with our thoughts, the less we become thoughtless when we conduct ourselves during the routine course of our lives we often identify with our thoughts a thought pops up within us, we think it is my thought and we act on it and then if we have acted short-sightedly stupidly self-destructively we wonder why did I do that so if we don’t want to act thoughtlessly we need to stop identifying with our thoughts the Bhagavad Gita urges us to see that thoughts, emotions and desires emerging within us are often the products of the three modes of material nature in the 14th chapter which analyzes the three modes it says that प्रकाशं च प्रवित्तिन्च मोहमेव च पाण्डव नदेश्टी संप्रवित्तानि नन्युवित्तानि कांख्षते उदासीन उदासीन कुळे योवन विचालियते गुणावर्कन्धित्येव योवतिष्ठतिन एंगते so it says that Guna that these three modes they lead to particular kinds of thoughts when the mode of goodness is dominant then clarity comes प्रवित्ति then compassion the urge for action, hyperactivity comes प्रवित्ति delusion, confusion, inactivity comes when there is a mode of ignorance नदेश्टी संप्रवित्तानि one should not resent it when it appears when such thought patterns appear नदेश्टानि कांक्षिति nor crave for it when it disappears उदासीन उदासीन just be situated as detached गुणे योवन विचालियते how can you stay उदासीन by understanding that you are actually caused by the modes गुणावर्तन्कित्येव यो वतिष्टतिने इंगते be situated calmly so if we understand that we are souls who are different from our mind which is where the modes act and from where most of our thoughts emerge then we will not identify with those thoughts so much and if we don’t identify with our thoughts so much then we will be able to evaluate them and if we evaluate them then we can act on them as per merit if they are directing us towards something useful we will do them if they are distracting or deluding or degrading then we will say no to them now how can we practically identify less with our thoughts at a day to day level at a moment to moment level there are so many thoughts which emerge and it is impossible to actually put all of them aside distance ourselves from them and evaluate all of them but we have an overall structure and plan for our life and whenever we do anything that deviates from that plan or when we get some thought which will cause us to deviate from an overall structured way of life that is especially when we need to dis-identify that is distance ourselves from those thoughts and then evaluate them and if beforehand we have put proper thought into the structure that we have for our life then the thoughts that we get which help us go along with the structure of our life say I study at this time, I work at this time I do this at this time then those thoughts will keep us on the constructive track and thus we can overall make our life productive the Bhagavata says that the best way to avoid getting carried away by our thoughts is by having been fixed in a devotional purpose if you become devotionally fixed then we can resist various thoughts because that devotional purposefulness gives us a parameter by which we can evaluate thought that gives us a structure and then we won’t identify with distracting thoughts thank you