Hari OM
From 8/4/19 to 12/4/19, Pujya Swami
Swaroopananda-ji presented evening discourses to the public at the Merrylands
Civic Centre, NSW Australia. The focus of his talks this year was Chapter 2 of
the Bhagavad Gita, and more specifically, shlokas 1-32. Some of the learning
and insights will be shared over several posts.
Last post, we saw shlokas 19-21 in which the question was raised by
Krishna, when knowing the eternal nature of The Spirit, how could we think
in terms of killing and being killed?
A lot - nay all - of our fear comes from 'what will happen if..?'
Further, 'what will happen' is referring most immediately to our physical
selves. "Am I in danger?" Even if it is not the physical body at
risk, then it will undoubtedly be a risk to the ego, our personality. Beyond that, it is the worry about the potential for loss, be that of possessions, home,
family, friends. The list is endless, for we build attachments to virtually
everything.
The body is subject to birth, existence, growth, decay, disease and
death. We all face this and none can escape this cycle. However, Shri Krishna
makes clear that the Essential "I" which observes all this is
untouchable, unaffected, unsullied by all such change. Later in the chapter,
the Lord comes back down to 'what to do' to overcome our problems in life…
however, in these first thirty-plus verses, He wants us very much to analyse and
come to terms with the cause of our
issues. That cause is attachment.
The misunderstanding that all this physical world is real when it holds no reality
for the Aatmaa, the Supreme Spirit, results in us becoming blind to our
eternal nature and, instead, bemoaning the state of change which exists in our
finite manifestation.
What a waste of effort this is! In shloka 21, the Lord - through the
question posed - is berating us for not seeing The Reality and, instead, giving
reality to all this. If we could but properly understand that there is no such
thing as birth, change, death for the Aatmaa, we would free ourselves of Maya's
bindings.
No. All too readily we surrender that freedom for the bondage of
this life. Things, events, happenings. Distractions abound. Some of them are
important for the here and now of our situation - obtaining food or shelter
would be high on that list. As long as we are in the world of multiplicity, we
must deal with the interaction it brings. How well we manage that is dependent
on our level of experience and how detached we can make ourselves from outcomes
and results. Knowing how to prioritise is a major step. However, even when a
situation might be classed as 'life or death', ultimately it too requires us to
let go of our attachment and understand that death is only relative to the
concept of life - and what is that really?
Lord Krishna follows up with this statement in shloka 22;
Just as Man casts off his worn out clothes
and puts on new ones,
so also the embodied Aatmaa
casts off its worn out bodies
and enters others which are new...
